


the color of murder

by henley_sarah



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Anxiety, Begging, Blow Jobs, Bullying, Character Death, Coma, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cunnilingus, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Depression, Desert Island, Despair, Despair Disease (Dangan Ronpa), Dirty Thoughts, Dom/sub, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Eating Disorders, F/M, Fingerfucking, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Hope, Islands, Killing, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Kissing, Light Dom/sub, Making Love, Making Out, Memory Loss, Mental Health Issues, Murder, Murder Mystery, One Direction References, Oral Sex, Praise Kink, Remnants of Despair (Dangan Ronpa), Russian Roulette, Self-Doubt, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Self-Worth Issues, Sex, Sharing a Bed, Smut, Spoilers, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Super Dangan Ronpa 2 Spoilers, Swearing, Teasing, The Tragedy of Hope's Peak Academy, Torture, Triggers, Underage Drinking, Vaginal Sex, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:07:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 35
Words: 54,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23118958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/henley_sarah/pseuds/henley_sarah
Summary: Seeing you come to me should be catharsisbut instead it takes on the color of murder.It is because you are the mortal one between us.More beautiful in your emotion, easier to kill,all that energy inside you as quickly perishableas the entire lifespan of a butterfly.Maybe this is why I wanted you.I had grown cold with the responsibility for the sun.Destruction was not what I intended for you,but this is what happens to all who follow in my wake.Ask the sunflower who she used to be; she will tell youshe was once a nymph who fell in love with me.This is the difference between ichor and iron.The universe made you closer to itself than us.The water will take better care of you than me.Let me melt your wings, you belong to the sea.Now a stillness neither of us knew before.Now a softness no one can answer for.- n.g.
Relationships: Komaeda Nagito/Original Character(s), Komaeda Nagito/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, the first few chapters go a bit slow, and the poem I used as the summary might not make sense until the very end. Sorry

I woke up more drowsy than I have ever felt in my life, and a muffled voice caught my attention.

"Hey, you don't look so well." A soft voice said, and I looked up and saw a pale blonde girl standing in front of me. Was I sitting at a desk?

"Where am I?" I asked, my mouth feeling extra dry.

"Hope's Peak Academy," She answered. "I'm Sonia."

"Enko," I nodded slowly, looking around at all the other people in the room. They were all vastly different from each other. Some looked wild and like they had stories to tell about their interesting lives. Others looked... ordinary. Plain. Like there wasn't much to know about them.

Like me.

"You look really pale. Are you feeling okay?" Sonia asked, looking very concerned.

"I'm naturally pale. I'll be alright." I nodded and sat up a little further and stretched, hearing my back and shoulders pop as I moved.

"I should at least get you some water... or something..." She looked frantically around the room, but I already knew there was nothing.

Sonia was with me, and I met a few of the other girls, like Ibuki, Mahiru, Akane, Mikan, and Chiaki. I noticed a few boys watching the group of us chat, like a guy in a chef's hat, a guy with pink hair, and a guy with messy white hair. There were also two girls who seemed to be refusing to talk to the rest of us, but that was none of my business.

Then, there was a fat guy in a white suit who apparently took over the leadership role, and began asking us if we remembered how we got here.

"I literally just woke up..." I groaned, putting my hands over my face to block out the light.

"I see, so before you realized it, you were in this classroom... then everyone here is in the same predicament... No matter how you look at it, it's unnatural. Even you stupid-looking ones would agree, right?" He said.

"Who are you calling stupid-looking?" I snapped, glaring at him, but he didn't answer.

"I don't know what you're all so worried about, but that doesn't sound like a huge deal..." A big guy spoke up, and I lost my fucking mind when I saw him.

"How in the hell are you a freshman?" I just blinked and we stared at each other for a moment.

"Well, you don't look too young yourself." He said, making my jaw drop. I looked away and they moved onto the topic of us being locked inside this room.

"Maybe this is the entrance exam?" The guy with white hair thought out loud.

"But there is no entrance exam," Sonia spoke up.

"They may say that publicly..." He continued.

"Ah, you're wrong. This is not an entrance exam." A new voice spoke up and a white rabbit in a dress popped up out of nowhere.

"Is anybody else seeing that?" I asked, just to make sure, and Ibuki nodded beside me.

"Alright, I see everyone has arrived! Let's begin! I am Magical Miracle Girl ☆ Usami... a.k.a. Usami!" The rabbit twirled her wand-looking thing. "I may not look like it, but I am your squeezably soft teacher. Nice to meet you all!"

"I'm... high? Or drunk? I feel high." I groaned softly and let my head hit the desk, and Mikan immediately began fretting over me.

Everyone else began to question and process this new information, meanwhile, Mikan was checking my pupils for dilation while I tried to explain to her that I wasn't actually high or drunk.

"It seems like you know something about our situation." The white suit dude said.

"Of course! I'm the lead teacher of this school trip!" Usami cheered.

"School trip? What do you mean, school trip?" He asked.

"A large group of students goes on a chaperoned trip with a lead teacher! It's the biggest event of the school year!" She cheered again. "Now let's depart for the fun school trip!"

Seconds after she said that, the walls around us fell down to reveal we were surrounded by palm trees, sand, and crystal blue water. A fucking beach.

"Oh, fuck no..." I grimaced and began tugging at my clothes to cover up more.

"You okay?" Mahiru asked me.

"I don't like beaches..." I shook my head, still making a face.

"Feast your eyes on this beautiful ocean... It's like your heart is being washed clean, isn't it?" Usami smiled.

"Do you have any idea what's in the ocean?" I stared. "Monsters that want to eat us. Water pressure we can't survive. It would literally crush us. I hate the beach, I hate water, I hate the sun...!" I began grumbling to myself.

I was totally missing the conversation that was happening about us being on an uninhabited island and missing school, and even the white-haired guy talking about us being here to kill each other.

"Bloody business, like causing violence or inflicting pain is a big no-no on this island!" Usami exclaimed.

"Then what do you intend for us to do on this island?" Fat dude asked.

"While you all relax on this island paradise, you must get along and strengthen your bonds with one another!" Usami cheered oh so happily, it made me sick.

We all split up, and I decided to stay by Sonia. She looked happy enough to have my company, so I guess I wasn't intruding.

"So, I'm the Ultimate Princess, I'm an exchange student. What are you?" Sonia asked as we walked towards a park.

"Ultimate Beauty Queen. I do pageants, I model, I do my own makeup... I guess that counts..." I hummed.

"How interesting!" She nodded, not looking very interested.

We went around and met the others and learned what their talents were. Teruteru offered to make us food anytime we'd like, and I politely accepted but didn't plan on taking him up on his offer as he was practically drooling over Sonia and I. Even the pink-haired guy, Soda, was making heart eyes at Sonia. I felt bad for her, but I was so thankful it wasn't me.

I was at the restaurant with Sonia and Teruteru when two guys I hadn't met yet came in.

"Oh, I haven't even met you yet. I'm Nagito Komaeda, and this is Hajime Hinata. Nice to meet you." The white-haired guy offered me his hand.

"Enko Tsuyu, you can just call me Enko, though. Nice to meet you." I put on a smile to be polite.

"I'm the Ultimate Lucky Student. And you?" He asked, those pale green eyes piercing me.

"The Ultimate Beauty Queen," I smiled, and he just nodded thoughtlessly.

"I see," He hummed.

"What do you see?" I asked, growing annoyed. Everyone I met today seemed to have the same opinion of me. I was the Ultimate Beauty Queen, a model, I must care a lot about my appearance, and I must be materialistic and shallow and vain and shit. I'm sick of it.

Just then, a sound rang out, and Nagito pointed towards the monitor.

"Congratulations, everyone!" Usami said in a happy voice. "It appears that everyone has finished collecting the Hope Fragments! I'm... I'm so happy! So, I've prepared a present for everyone that'll make you all very happy! I apologize for the trouble, but please gather at the beach!" She then laughed and it cut off.

"I fucking hate the fucking beach..." I grumbled and we got a move on.


	2. Chapter 2

"So... can I ask why you hate the beach?" Nagito asked me as we walked as a group.

"I used to live by the beach, so I guess the short answer is that I'm tired of it. Sand gets everywhere, everything smells like salt, the birds all have balls... not to mention the sun. I don't have any sunscreen, so I'm going to burn and get age spots..." I listed.

"There's sunscreen at the supermarket..." Nagito said.

"There's a supermarket?" I blinked and he nodded. "Motherfucker!"

"Do you want my jacket? It'll cover your arms, and there's a hood..." Nagito offered.

"Are you sure?" I asked, not wanting to be rude. He nodded and shrugged it off to hand to me. "Thank you, I appreciate it."

By the time we arrived, everyone was talking about what they discovered. Apparently, there were blocked-off bridges that lead to other islands, a hotel, a restaurant, a ranch, lots of cabins, a park, and a supermarket on this island. I could only imagine what would be on the other islands.

Then there was a discussion about how "exciting" it was to now live on a tropical island and not have to worry about anything. But here I was, worrying.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one, either. Hajime brought up the fact that we were here to attend school, but we ended up on a remote island. No matter how you look at it, it's weird. And nobody seemed to care. And it only got worse when Soda mentioned that there weren't boats and the planes were just for show, and Peko brought up the fact that there wasn't a way to contact the outside world.

"Excuse me..." I whispered to Nagito and slipped away into the thick trees behind the beach, and promptly threw up because of my anxious stomach.

"My, you really aren't well, are you?" Sonia's voice said, and I looked up and saw her looking at me in worry.

"I'll be fine..." I shook my head and spat out the remaining vomit in my mouth. "But nothing about this feels right, I have a really bad feeling about all of this..."

"Well, would the ocean make you feel better?" She asked. "Usami got us all swimsuits. Maybe the cool water might calm you down. Aren't you hot in that jacket? Where did you get that, anyway?"

"It's Nagito's..." I said as she cleaned my face with a handkerchief and brought me back to the beach, my hands in hers.

"He's a little odd, isn't he? Nice, but odd." She nodded with a smile.

"Isn't everyone?" I smiled, already feeling a little better.

"Come on, let's go change..." She pulled me to the hotel and then back to the beach.

"Are you sure I look okay?" I hissed to Sonia.

"You look fine," She gave me a kind smile, and I smiled back, glad that she was being so nice to me. I stood right at the edge of the water, just letting the waves wrap around my ankles, and I watched my feet sink into the wet sand.

"You look like you're enjoying yourself." Nagito came over and stood beside me.

"The beach isn't half bad when I want to enjoy it." I shrugged.

Nagito and I both heard yelling and looked over to see Hajime running over, now changed into his trunks.

"Glad to see he's changed his mind." Nagito nodded. "I was starting to worry about him."

Then we watched as Hajime stopped in place to stare at the sky in horror.

"What's he doing?" I asked and looked at the sky, then understood.

It had gotten dark and cloudy in mere seconds. I've never seen the sky do that.

"Ah, ah! Mic check, mic check!" The monitor spoke up. We turned to look and only saw static, but there was clearly a voice coming from it.

"Can you hear me? Can you hear me?" It asked, sounding a little desperate. "Surprised? You were totally surprised! Right? Now then, sorry to keep you all waiting for so long. Let's leave all this worthless entertainment behind, it's time for the main attraction! You guys better hustle over to Jabberwock Park!"

"Could it be...?" Usami gasped, looking close to fainting.

"You know who that was?" I asked, and she didn't answer, just disappeared. "Well, do we go or not?" I turned to Nagito.

"I say we go." Nagito nodded.

So, we got changed back into our clothes rather quickly and left for the park, and I zoned out most everything until Sonia exclaimed.

"What in carnation is that?!" She squealed and pointed to a black and white stuffed bear.

And to everyone's surprise, the bear began to speak... it was fucking animate.

"If ya meant _tarnation_... why shucky gosh darn, and bless your cotton-picking little heart, missy! But if it was _incarnation_... then yes, it's me, in the flesh, the fur, and the stuffing! Hey, y'all. I'm Monokuma, and I'm the headmaster of your academy."

I don't think I was the only one when I paused for a moment to process what the stuffed bear just said when I said, "...I'm sorry?"

"With Usami down for the count, it's time to put an end to this lame-ass scenario. As opposed to my ass, which is in a tasteful two-tone, feared and respected by all the woodland creatures when I do... what y'all know a bear does there!"

"...What the hell is he talking about?" I hissed to Nagito.

"I have no idea." He hissed back.

"Oh, yeah. I have an announcement to make." Monokuma then cleared his throat and stood at attention.

"As of this moment, all y'all are on a school _killing_ trip!"

' _What's that mean?_ ' Was my immediate thought.

"Oh, ya don't _have_ to do it. Unless ya plan to spend the rest of your lives on this island, that is. If ya wanna leave, though, please do the following, and take notes, kids: Kill a classmate, then weasel your way through the class trials!" Monokuma said gleefully.

"Class trials?" Hajime asked.

"Don't hear so good? The class t-r-i-a-l-s! See, they're the really exciting part of this school killing trip! In the event of a murder, all of the students, those still alive, will hold a class trial. During which time, y'all must debate who among you could've done such a terrible, terrible thing. Now, if the trial _correctly_ determines the guilty party, I'll only punish the killer. But if ya little creeps get it _wrong_ , the guilty one goes free, and I'll punish everyone _but_ the killer. Ya see, in the end, one and only one culprit can escape from this island!"

Only one, huh...

Well, good thing my morals are flexible.


	3. Chapter 3

"Wait a damn second!" Nekomaru spoke up. "First ya pop up out of nowhere, and then you start spouting this antisocial crap?! You'll never make the team that way! I don't like violence, but it seems you might need some discipline!"

"Oh yeah, let's beat on this bear a little!" Akane agreed with him, cracking her knuckles.

"Like we'd kill each other... I shall put an end to your shenanigans." Peko glared.

"You heard them! Keep shooting that messed up shit, and our athletes will give you hell!" Ibuki cheered.

"Oh, my. Look at these tough kids, coming to kick my butt! This could get grizzly...!" Monokuma just laughed until Usami, who didn't look like herself, came up.

"Guys! Monokuma is dangerous! Leave him to me!" She said in that squeaky voice of hers.

"Geez, go die already, Monomi." Monokuma just huffed.

"I'm Usami, not Monomi! Justice isn't two tones like you think it is! I was their teacher before you turned me into this! And I was a magical girl bear! And I had a magical girl bear staff instead of a twig with a leaf on it! I'll never forgive your twisted heart." She ranted, not realizing that no one cared.

"Monomi, ya ain't too bright. Don't ya realize what'll happen if ya oppose me?" Monokuma seemed almost bored with her, and I hated to admit that I was interested in what would happen.

"How dare you! I, Usami, will protect the peace of all the stu-"

And Monokuma riddled her with bullets at that very second, making me raise my eyebrows and purse my lips, almost impressed.

"Ugh! See? I had to pull the gat! Gatling gun, that is!" Monokuma laughed. "That is the power of my Monobeasts! If y'all defy me, they'll fill ya full of holes, just like Monomi!" He laughed hysterically.

"So, as ya can probably guess, I'm okay with any form of murder. I mean, shooting's a classic, but ya don't have to limit yourself. Y'all will still receive full class credit for clubbing, stabbing, strangling, poisoning, burning, bombing, drowning, electrocuting, or, for those of you taking the AP exam, defenestration." He listed. "Now, y'all kids don't disappoint me, ya hear? Be creative! I can't wait to see what kinda killing y'all will do. If I had a heart, which I don't, it'd be racing with excitement!" Monokuma giggled and took a breath before continuing.

"Oh, and just so ya know, one of ya is secretly working for me. So don't just watch ya front, watch ya back, too..." He said, then disappeared.

"What just happened?" Nagito shuddered. Teruteru was muttering about how he refused to believe such a thing, and my mind was just so blank, I hardly heard the others talking about what to do.

"No matter how confused or upset you are, I don't mind. However, remember this; I don't know who in the world is orchestrating this, but we don't need to be cautious of those machines, or even of whoever's controlling them. More than anything, we must be cautious of ourselves." Togami said, which snapped me back into the present and had me wary of everyone around me.

Just who here was capable of murder? Who here was desperate enough to become capable of murder?

"Being brought to a tropical island with complete strangers, and ordered to kill each other to escape, that creates fear in our minds, and the desire to escape that hopeless fear is our worst enemy."

Not long later, we walked back to the hotel and made the plan to meet up at the restaurant in the morning to just see who was still with us. I found my little cottage and locked the door behind me. I found it spacious enough, very open and clean.

And then the monitor made a sort of bell noise, which freaked me out a little.

"Ahem! Hope's Peak Academy's School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make... It is now ten p.m.! Nighttime can be confusing. If you're out at night and accidentally meet a killer, then it sucks to be you! But if you're worried about that and can't sleep, I've prepared a cottage on the hotel grounds for each of you. Every single one of you, please feel free to rest in your own rooms. However, before you go to bed, I strongly recommend you lock your doors. You never know who might be planning to kill you! Bye-bye!" Monokuma signed off with a laugh that chilled me to my core.

There was a knock on my door that made me jump, and I looked through the peephole and saw Sonia standing there, looking nervous.

I opened up and she let out a relieved sigh. "I almost thought you wouldn't answer... How are you? Are you feeling better?"

"I don't feel sick if that's what you mean," I said and let her in. She took a seat, and so I took the one beside her. She opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, we heard a scream that sounded like it was from a couple of cottages away.

"Wonder what that was all about?" She hummed, staring out the window to the other cottages.

"Maybe someone...?" I couldn't finish the thought that someone was getting hurt.

"No, it didn't sound to be in pain." She shook her head. "Maybe someone is just aggravated." Her shoulders shrugged.

"Maybe," I sighed.

"Anyway, you. You got violently sick earlier. Are you sure you're feeling okay? I'm worried about you, Enko." She frowned daintily.

"And I appreciate you worrying about me, but I promise, I'm fine." I gave her a smile.

"Okay," She let it drop, then smiled. "So, what about this Nagito, then?"

"Nagito? What about him?" I asked.

"He seems quite interested in you." She gave me a sly smile.

"Oh, please. We just met today. People don't decide things so suddenly." I waved my hand to brush it all off. "Besides, I'm not even looking for romance. I'm fine with being single."

"That's what they all say," Sonia smirked and stood up to leave, so I followed her to the door.

"I am! And that mentality is toxic, you know, thinking that everyone needs someone romantically. I'm fine with my platonic relationships. They can be just as fulfilling." I said, which just made Sonia laugh.

"I'm just saying, he's odd, but he seems like your type of odd." She gave me a wink, wished me goodnight, then went off to her own cottage. I locked the door behind her and fell upon my new bed, staring up at the ceiling, thinking about this.

I was more of the mentality that I wasn't one of those people looking for romance, but if it happened to pass me by, I wouldn't be opposed. So, for now, I was against the idea since Nagito wasn't showing me any clear signs of interest. But, if I ever got the feeling that he might be, I'll ask and see where it goes from there.

But for now, I just wanted to sleep. And so I did.


	4. Chapter 4

I was woken up in the morning by another bell sound, and then the monitor turned on only for Monokuma's voice to ring through the air.

"Ahem! Hope's Peaks Academy's School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make... Good morning everyone! Looks like today is going to be another perfect, tropical day! Now then, let's show some enthusiasm and make sure to give it our all today!" The monitor then shut off and I was left alone in my room.

That's right, we're supposed to meet up at the restaurant in the morning... I should get ready.

I didn't really have time to look around my new cottage yesterday, but now I saw a closet full of clothes and a bathroom that had a counter full of my own makeup. Amazing.

I got to work on getting myself ready, and by seven forty-five, I was out and headed to the restaurant.

"You. Are. Late." Togami hissed at me.

"We never set up a meeting time. You just said morning." I countered.

"I meant...! Okay." He sighed. "How about by the time the morning announcement comes on?"

"That's my alarm clock, so I still probably won't be out by like, seven-thirty." I shrugged and moved aside to look at the food and see what looked interesting enough to eat.

"You're late, Hajime... and where is Kazuichi? I thought you were together." Togami moved onto Hajime, who walked in after me.

"Kazuichi? Is that his name?" I hummed to Sonia who was pouring herself a glass of juice.

"Morning," Nagito came up beside me to get some toast as I was picking out pieces of fruit to eat.

"Hey, morning, Nagito." I gave him a smile.

"How'd you sleep?" He asked and took a seat, so I followed him and sat in front of him at a table.

"I slept fine. You?" I asked and began stabbing fruit with my fork.

"Just fine," He nodded, then furrowed his brows at my plate. "You're not eating much,"

"No, I don't eat a lot normally." I just shrugged with a smile, hoping he would just accept it and move on.

"Let's just say, your jaw wouldn't be the only thing that drops!" Teruteru suddenly yelled.

"Oh my God, what is he going on about now?" I sighed, making Nagito snicker.

"In fact, your panties would drop, too! Like the black thong Miss Peko is wearing, for example!" Teruteru yelled.

"You creep! How do you know about that?" Peko growled.

"I'm scared," I gave a fake smile to Nagito, who just laughed.

Mahiru brought Kazuichi back, and Togami was about to start his talk when Mikan tripped and landed... well, in a compromising position.

While the others scrambled to help her, Teruteru talked about how happy he was just to witness her, I crossed my arms on the table and put my head down, tired of all of this already.

"Mikan, are you okay?" Nagito asked, and once she confirmed she was alright, he turned back to me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking done." I sighed.

"Looks like my guess was correct. Miss Peko wears black thongs and Miss Mikan wears white bikinis. Should I make my next move with Miss Sonia or Miss Enko...?" Teruteru was mumbling.

"I'm going to fucking kill him." I sat straight up.

"Calm down. We'll keep an eye on him." Nagito promised me. "Togami, you were saying you had something to say?"

"First, I have a question for you all. That Monokuma thing ordered us to kill each other, so, under these strange circumstances, what do you think we need right now?" Togami asked.

Akane and Nekomaru gave answers like food, shelter, and shitting, while Nagito came up with a bond.

"Unity, idiots." I sighed, raising my head again. "We need to be unified."

"Exactly. Thank you, Enko." Togami nodded and I waved and lowered my head again. "Since it's impossible to face our enemy as individuals under these circumstances, we must fight as a group. What we need right now is a disciplined leadership, provided by an unmistakable leader! So, I'll accept the position."

"Was this all so you could just tell us you want to be our leader?" I raised my head again. "Because you could've saved us a lot of time by saying, 'hey guys, I think we need to be unified and have a leader if we wanna survive this. I nominate me.'"

"Are you against this?" Togami asked.

"No way, I'm for it. Either you or Nekomaru would be my first choice. I'm just saying, you could've saved us time." I shrugged and began picking at my fruit again.

"Fine. Then I'll wrap up this introduction and move onto the main point." Togami said.

"Oh my God, there's more," I whispered, still making Nagito snicker.

"I have something to show you all. Follow me." He said and turned away, starting to walk out of the restaurant. I groaned and got up, Nagito waiting for me to walk with me, and I was a little touched.

"Okay, what is it?" Akane asked when we got to Jabberwock Park, clearly not seeing the big ass bomb looking thing where there used to be a statue.

"It's... counting down..." Hajime gasped softly, and I squinted to see it clearer and saw that it read twenty-one days and some odd hours.

"A very mysterious mystery, isn't it?" Monomi spoke up, coming from out of nowhere.

"Why are you here?" Mahiru asked.

"I heard everyone talking while I was patrolling, so I came over..." She said simply.

"No, not that. Didn't Monokuma kill you?" Ibuki asked, looking nervous.

"Oh, so that's why you were surprised? You don't have to worry about that!" Monomi laughed. "After all, I can never die!"

"You've arrived at a good time, Monomi. What's the meaning behind this thing and the countdown?" Togami ignored everything to ask her. We love a leader with his head on straight.

"Countdown?" Monomi asked and turned to see the bomb looking thing. "Aah! What is that?! I'm sorry, I don't know." She apologized.

"You really don't know?" Peko asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't really have a grasp of what Monokuma is up to..." She whimpered.

"If you don't know what the countdown is for, you're useless to us. Get lost." Togami said, which depressed Monomi, and she left.

To be honest, it depressed me a little, too. I was used to be called pretty, and that's it. I didn't want to be seen as just pretty. I wanted people to know that I had a brain, too. I could be smart... scratch that, I _am_ smart.

I'm not just pretty. I'm not useless.

I swear I'm not useless...


	5. Chapter 5

I eventually found the supermarket and looked around, and found no alcohol.

"Monokuma!" I called, and he suddenly appeared.

"You called? What do you want?"

"Alcohol. Preferably, rum or wine." I said with a straight face.

"No way, you're a minor." He said and started to walk off.

"So, you're fine with murder but not underage drinking?" I asked and he paused in place.

"Don't twist this, sweetheart!" He looked back at me. "Why do you want alcohol?"

"Because I like to drink when I'm sad."

"That doesn't sound healthy."

"Yeah, probably not. But hey, if I get drunk, I might kill someone. You never know." I shrugged and saw his eyes widen a little.

"Say no more!" He said and ran behind a back door that was in the store, and came back with a bottle of wine. He gave it to me, told me to tell him if I wanted more, and disappeared.

I grabbed a huge bottle of brown soda and left, going to my cottage, and I flicked the top off the wine bottle to drink as I walked.

"Hey, Enko!" A voice called, and I looked up and saw the group I left in the park heading back to the hotel.

"Hey," I put on a smile.

"You weren't at the park?" Togami asked.

"I was for a little bit. Then I left." I shrugged.

"We were discussing important things! Things that may be crucial to our stay on this island!" He grew mad.

"Well, you didn't even notice I was gone, so how important could it be that I wasn't there?" I shrugged and took another drink.

"What?" Nagito asked, and I ignored him.

"What are you... is that wine? Where'd you get wine?" Kazuichi exclaimed.

"Monokuma. I told him I'd kill someone if he gave it to me." I said and edged past them to go to my cottage.

"Yo, you wanna share?" Fuyuhiko called.

"Nope," I replied and locked the door behind me, sighing at the silence.

And that was how I spent my day. I got absurdly drunk, cried a bit, and refused to leave my room until I looked at least a little presentable.

"You're... drunk." Nagito was the first to speak up when I came to the restaurant for dinner since I skipped lunch.

"Yep." I nodded and took a seat, holding my head in my hands.

"Are you okay?" Hajime asked, leaning a little closer.

"I'm peachy." I nodded and picked up some fried chicken. "Oh my God, when was the last time I had fried chicken? Is there bacon? Or steak or something?" I looked around.

"Mikan, is there a certain food she should eat while she's drunk?" Nagito asked.

"Chicken is good, but you don't want steak. You want salmon." She said and he grabbed me a fillet of salmon.

"Oh, salmon's good..." I nodded and sat down with a soda, and started to eat. Mikan and Nagito sat with me, keeping an eye on me.

"So, why did you drink today?" Nagito asked.

"I'm sad," I laughed a little bit, and he looked so confused.

"Why are you sad?"

"Because I'm absolutely useless." I smiled, tilting my head.

"No, you're not." Mikan shook her head.

"Am too," I said and closed my eyes out of exhaustion as I spoke. "People see me, and they don't see someone smart. They don't see a leader or someone who's strong or athletic or good at anything, really. I mean, let's be honest, being a beauty queen isn't really a talent. Being pretty isn't a talent. And fuck, I'm not even pretty under the makeup. I'm just good at makeup and I can act and lie on a stage and make myself seem like a good person."

I opened my eyes again and saw them looking at me with hurt expressions on their face, and I didn't have it in me to care. I kept eating until I felt sick, and I got up without a word and went to my cottage to go to bed.

The next morning, my head was pounding, but I managed to put on some makeup before I went to the restaurant for some coffee.

"Enko," Nagito greeted me, and I hummed in response, feeling my eyelids drooping. "You... don't look great."

"I feel like shit. What did I even do yesterday?" I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You drank like, a whole bottle of wine." He said.

"Oh, classic me." I nodded and poured myself a cup of coffee and added fuck tons of sugar.

"Come on, let's get some food in you." He led me over to a seat.

"If I even look at food, I will throw up," I said and put a hand over my eyes.

"You have to eat something." He insisted.

"I really don't," I grimaced.

"Come on, how about some toast? Or maybe some fruit?" He offered.

"What are you, her dad?" Hiyoko snickered.

"I can't look out for my friend?" Nagito asked with a smile.

'Friend?' I thought, then something clicked in my head.

"Hey, Monokuma," I spoke up, and he appeared out of nowhere, attracting everyone's attention.

"Why'd you call him here? Also, you can just summon him?" Nekomaru asked.

"I had to ask him something," I said and ran my fingers through my hair to soothe the ache in my head.

"I hope it's not for more wine. You still haven't killed anyone!" Monokuma pointed at me.

"I said I might, I never promised anything. Anyway, it's not that. I've got some questions. Something just... clicked in my head and I wanted to confirm it." I said, still feeling hazy and tired and drunk.

"Okay...?"

"I'm not... we're aren't... I'm not a freshman, am I?" I thought about how to word it before I got it out.

"What makes you say that?" Nagito asked.

"You called me your friend," I said, looking over at him. "I've got no problem with it. Sure, I'm your friend. But one day is still an awfully short time to be as close as we all seem to be. So, my guess is..." I said and took a sip of coffee. "This isn't our freshman year at Hope's Peak. We all knew each other before we came to this island."

The restaurant was silent, everyone looking at either me or Monokuma.

"Now, that's quite a jump there... aren't you still drunk?" Kazuichi asked me.

"I'm hungover. But that's why I'm checking, just to be sure." I said, staring at Monokuma. "Well?"

He gave a deep sigh. "You got me. Well, not me, but Monomi. She stole your memories."

"Knew it. I knew something felt off." I nodded to myself. "It was one of the first things I noticed when I woke up. I felt different. And didn't I ask Nekomaru how the hell he was a freshman? Does he look fifteen to you?"

"...She's right." Nekomaru nodded slowly.

"Amazing how you only figured that out after you got drunk." Monokuma shook his head. "Yes, this is not your freshman year at Hope's Peak. And yes, you all knew each other before. You're all in the same class, after all. Monomi stole your memories of those years and brought you to the island, then took your memories of how you got here."

"Years? Plural? How many?" I asked.

"That, I'm not answering."

"Well, at least we all know that we're at least seventeen. So it's not really underage drinking, is it?" I smirked and Monokuma swore.

"You're a bright one."

"I'm really not," I said and downed my coffee right then and there.


	6. Chapter 6

"I have decided to throw a party tonight."

Those were some words I didn't think I'd ever hear come out of Togami's mouth.

"A what?" I stared at him.

"A party, do not make me repeat myself again." He glared at me.

"I heard you, I just didn't think I heard you correctly." I then smirked. "Didn't take you for a party animal, Togami."

"Shut it." He snapped and turned to the rest of them. "You all heard me. A huge party that will last from sundown to sunrise. Just so we're clear, I will not allow any absences. Your attendance at this party is absolutely mandatory."

"I feel like I'm about to be taken hostage..." I hissed to Nagito, who chuckled under his breath.

"But is this really the time to be talking about partying?" Mahiru asked.

"I think so," Nagito spoke up. "In fact, because of the situation we're in, it's probably best if we all strengthen our friendships with one another. That's what you thought too, right? That's why you want to throw a party?" He turned to Togami.

"It doesn't matter why I'm doing it... Anyway, it is of vital importance that we all stay in one place tonight."

They then got to deciding on where that place would be, and Nagito brought up the old, run-down building next door to the hotel.

"It meets all of our needs, but Monomi has banned us from entering. It's under renovation if I recall." Peko brought up.

"Hey, Monomi!" I called, getting an idea, and the rabbit popped up right in front of me, scaring some people.

"What can I do for you?" She asked in a sweet voice.

"The thing is, we want to throw a party tonight and strengthen our friendships, you know? Thing is, we don't want Monokuma to know about it. Follow?" I said and she nodded. "We were thinking about using that shabby building next door..." I trailed off.

"Well, if it's about strengthening bonds, I won't hesitate to cooperate!" She cheered.

We then decided who would clean the building via a drawing of chopsticks, and Nagito got selected.

"Well, if it's just cleaning, that's okay. I'm pretty good at it." He shrugged, seeming a little too okay about this.

"I thought so. You seem like you'd make a good stay-at-home dad." Mahiru nodded.

"...I'll take that as a compliment," Nagito said, which made me laugh a little.

"I'll handle the cooking," Teruteru said, and I winced a little.

"Do we really trust him enough for that?" I whispered to Nagito.

"I'll keep an eye on him." Nagito nodded.

We then all agreed to meet up after the nightly announcement, and I left to go get more sleep to prepare for tonight. After my nap, I downed that bottle of soda for the caffeine, and in about an hour, I was ready to go.

I began picking out my clothes and makeup for the party, not wanting to overdo it, but I wanted to look nice. After a shower, changing, and doing my makeup, I heard the chime of the nightly announcement.

"Ahem! Hope's Peak Academy's School trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make! It is now ten p.m.! Please return to your rooms and relax. Let the sound of the ocean gently rock you to sleep. Now then, sweet dreams everyone. Good night..." And after that, the sound and visual cut off, and I waited just a few minutes before walking out and heading to the old building.

When I got inside, Togami was standing next to some cases, and he immediately told me to stand up straight with my arms up. I did it, then jumped when he patted my waist on both sides.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"Checking for weapons." He said simply.

"Do I look like I have any weapons on me?" I asked and he eyed my outfit, which was a somewhat short dress.

"Listen, I gave this treatment to everyone else. I don't want to have to ask you to lift your skirt..."

"Then don't!" I exclaimed in shock.

"Then are you going to let me get through with the check?" He stared at me like it really didn't bother him.

"You're ridiculous," I sighed and held still for him as he finished up his check and let me in.

"Hey! You made it!" Nagito gave me a big smile.

"I feel violated," I frowned and grabbed a soda.

"Violated?" He asked.

"Togami," I said and he suddenly understood and nodded.

"Well, it is for our safety, after all." He said and I just slowly nodded.

"You look pretty," Mahiru said as she passed me.

"Oh, thanks!" I gave her a smile just to be nice. Meanwhile, Togami was fretting over a skewer in some meat and chewing out Teruteru for using "such dangerous items."

"What? Are we not allowed to use knives then? Or even forks? You can stab someone with a fork. Or you can scoop out an eyeball with a spoon." I spoke up, and Togami stared at me. "My point is, literally anything can be used as a weapon if you think hard enough. As long as we've got our eyes on each other, we should be safe, right? So chill out."

Togami went to get the other skewers, and when he came back, we elected Peko to guard the cases and gave her some food to take with her. Then we nominated Chiaki and Monomi (who showed up for some reason) to be on the lookout for Monokuma.

The party started up, and I was nibbling on some of the food while Akane shoved food into her face and Mahiru took pictures of us all just having a good time. At least until Nekomaru revealed that he had to take a shit but the bathroom door was locked, then Gundham started making a fuss because he lost his earring. Akane then asked if it was alright for her to eat all the food, which made Togami yell at her to save some for him, and right in the middle of his yelling did Mahiru tell him to say cheese so she could take a picture.

"Why can't you all be more mature?!" He huffed, and there was a little beep right after he spoke.

"What was that?" I looked up, attracting a little attention.

"What was what?" Kazuichi asked right before it went pitch black.

"It's a blackout!"

"Hey! I can't see anything!"

"It's pitch black! My future is pitch black!"

"Everyone, calm down! We gotta stay calm in a situation like this!"

"Wah! Don't step on my feet!"

"What the hell? What's going on here?!" A voice that sounded like Togami's said.

"This is...!"

"Ow!"

"Turn the damn lights on! I can't eat like this, ya know!" A voice that was obviously Akane's complained.

"You guys? Where are you? Wasn't the blackout... just in the kitchen?" Teruteru? When did he get in here?

"Perhaps the breaker overloaded?"

"Hold on a sec! I'll go along the wall and... do something about it!"

We waited in the darkness, and a hand suddenly brushed along my arm.

"Who's that?" I jumped.

"It's just me," I heard Nagito hiss. "You okay?" He asked, and the lights came back on. I flinched and covered my eyes to give them a minute to adjust, and we discovered that Togami was missing... along with Mikan being in a very compromising position. After helping her, Nagito went to check the storage room, Hajime went to check the entrance, Kazuichi went to check the office, and I went with Sonia to check the hallways.

"This is quite odd, isn't it?" Sonia hummed, and I just nodded along with her.

When we regrouped, we found that no one had found anything, aside from the fact that when Kazuichi checked the office, Peko was gone.

"This just keeps getting weirder..." Sonia hummed and looked at Akane, who seemed to be sniffing the air.

"Do you guys smell that? It smells like blood." She said and began walking around the room.

"Blood has a scent?" I asked softly, not wanting to know the answer.

She went by the table in the back with the lamp on it and lifted the tablecloth, revealing a bloody Togami, lying dead on his stomach, a bloody knife right next to him.

"A body has been discovered!"


	7. Chapter 7

"Good gracious... things quickly took a turn for the worst..." Monokuma popped up, who was obviously the last thing we wanted to see at a time like this. "My, my! Now, this is interesting! On this tropical paradise known as Jabberwock Island, the very first murder had finally taken place!"

"Hold on! Then, does this mean...?" Nagito started.

"Of course!" Monokuma laughed, looking about as smug as a stuffed bear could look. "Byakuya was killed by one of you. If you look at the body, you can tell instantly. He was obviously murdered."

Then Monokuma had the actual nerve to walk over to the body and poke him. "Look, he has such a horrible expression on his face, don'tcha think? A face filled with regret that his life was ended by force, all thanks to someone else's selfish desires. To have a dying face such as this... if this isn't murder, then what the heck could it be?"

I wiped under my eyes and took a deep breath. "He has a point. We all have to admit that. He was killed by someone here..."

"Don't talk crazy!" Nagito exclaimed. "No one here would do that!"

"It's easier if we just admit it and get over it!" I snapped, not meaning to sound so mean, and I immediately regretted it when Nagito flinched back from me.

"Byakuya was most likely sacrificed by someone who really wanted to leave this island." Monokuma giggled, and Peko stepped in with Chiaki. "I see, I see... It appears Fuyuhiko is the only one who isn't here... So, in the spirit of keeping everyone on the same page, how about we do this the usual way!" Monokuma said and then disappeared so a chime could sound and the monitor could turn on.

"A body has been discovered! Now then, after a certain amount of time has passed, the class trial will begin!" He said enthusiastically, and the monitor cut off.

"Class... trial...?" Hajime asked nervously.

"I've already explained this to you, right? If one of you gets murdered, the rest of you have to debate who you think is the blackened." Monokuma explained, but I was already pushing back my hair into a ponytail and moving towards the body.

"What are you doing?" Ibuki asked me, and Hiyoko was just staring.

"It's better to just get it over with, right? Then we can figure out who killed him and bring them to justice." I nodded, trying to convince myself as well.

"You really believe one of our friends did this?" Nagito asked in a hurt voice.

"If one did, they aren't my friend anymore." I just shook my head.

"At least she isn't being conned by the killer already," Monokuma said with an approving tone before disappearing.

"But still, I can't believe one of us killed Byakuya." Nagito sighed and joined my side, kneeling beside the pools of blood. "There's no way I can believe it. So, for that reason, I'll do it. I'll investigate his death, and I'll do my best to prove that there's no killer among us." He vowed and stared at the body, looking like he didn't want to see it. "Mind if I join you?" He glanced at me.

"Feel free," I just nodded and stood up to grab a couple of napkins from the table. I came back and used one to pick up a clean spot on the knife.

"What is it?" He asked.

"The blade has blood on it, but you see this? This isn't blood. I think it's paint..." I pointed with my free hand to the green paint on the handle. I then pointed to a strip of duct tape. "That has the same color on it, so I think..."

I then took a chance and taped the tape back to the underside of the table. "I think the killer painted over the tape with something like glow-in-the-dark paint so he could see during the blackout... which means the blackout was planned," I said and glanced over to Nagito, who had a blown-up look of shock on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"You... got all that from some paint and blood?" He asked me softly, making me blush.

I ended up standing up and going over to the AC unit to check it out and found that it was set to turn at eleven-thirty, right when Togami was estimated to have died, according to the file Monokuma gave us. I left quickly to check the office and found the one in there set to eleven-thirty as well.

Hajime talked to Mahiru about a clue she discovered in her pictures she took, and I went to go talk to Peko and Ibuki about the office and the voices heard during the blackout.

"See, my thinking is..." I started telling Nagito as he walked with me. "Is that Ibuki is the Ultimate Musician, right? So, she's got to have good hearing. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she had perfect pitch, too. A lot of people were talking during the blackout, so maybe she can place who said what. That's if she remembers, of course." I said and he nodded.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. No harm in asking, right?" He agreed but stayed quiet as I asked her about who said what.

We went to go investigate the kitchen, and I found a load of wine bottles.

"Can... I have these?" I asked, looking at Teruteru.

"No, that's cooking wine. You don't want to drink that." He shook his head.

"Why not?" I asked, and he gave me a dumbfounded expression.

"Because it's not for drinking. It has flavoring and loads of salt in it. It wouldn't taste good." He explained slowly while Nagito just smirked.

"Well, I didn't know that! I'm not a fucking chef." I crossed my arms, a little disappointed that I couldn't drink anything. I looked around while Nagito checked the list, and I found a few things and got an idea, so I tried to move as quietly as I possibly could.

"Yo, you got any bread in here?" I whispered to Teruteru, and he got me some bread and I started to construct my sandwich.

"What are you doing?" Nagito asked in a serious voice.

"Making a sandwich. You want one?" I asked.

"I thought you were taking this investigation seriously?" He looked disappointed.

"I am taking it seriously! I just didn't eat much during the party, and I have no idea how long this investigation and the trial thing is going to last... I'm a bit hungry, okay? Besides, I doubt the murder weapon is the knife I just used to cut the bread... there was a knife already in the dining hall with blood all fucking over it." I shrugged and put my sandwich together and cut it in half, offering the other half to Nagito, who refused.

We moved onto Ibuki, who recalled who said what for us, then checked out the office more thoroughly, and Nagito even got the bright idea to get Monokuma to let us in Togami's cottage, where we found a note stating that there would be a murder tonight.

"Is this a crime warning? No, if it says 'be careful,' it's probably a threatening letter... Maybe this is why Byakuya suddenly decided to throw a party." Nagito hummed.

"You're right," I suddenly thought. "That's why... he wanted us all in an enclosed space where we could keep an eye on each other, and why he was so nitpicky about weapons!" I nodded to myself.

Once we exited the cottage, the chime rang, so we peeked back in to look at the monitor.

"Alrighty, guys, it's finally time! That's right. It's time for the long-awaited class trial! Now then, I shall tell you all the meeting place. At the central island of Jabberwock Island, there is a mountain with my adorable face carved into it. That, my friends, is Monokuma Rock! Once you're there, please proceed to the underground by taking the elevator located at the secret entrance. I'll see you soon!" Monokuma signed off with a laugh.

"Shall we?" Nagito sighed, and so we went off together to what very much felt like our doom.


	8. Chapter 8

After going up the escalator, going into stone Monomkuma's face, and getting in the elevator, we came to a room that looked very professional. There was a large chair and in front of it was a circular stand with sixteen spaces, one with a picture of Togami.

"Move them shiny hineys to your designated places, and let's get this show on the frickin' road!" Monokuma said excitedly, jumping into the large throne-looking chair.

Hajime started us off. "I can't bring myself to believe that one of us killed Togami. But now our only option is to identify the killer and sacrifice their life for ours. Isn't that right...?"

"Why don't we start by summarizing what happened? From there we can prove that none of us was the killer." Nagito said, which had me discreetly rolling my eyes.

"We all know that Togami's body was found under the table toward the back of the dining hall, right? Near his body, we found night-vision goggles, a knife with luminous paint on it, and duct tape stuck to the bottom of the table. As a reminder, his time of death was eleven-thirty. He died of multiple stab wounds from the abdomen to the neck." Chiaki recounted.

"As a side note, I think the weapon was long and thin, with a thickness of about five millimeters," Mikan added softly.

"Togami was definitely killed during the power outage, too," Chiaki added on.

"Which means Pekoyama's the stinkiest fish in this barrel of suspects!" Kazuichi exclaimed out of fucking nowhere.

"I'm not the killer!" Peko retorted.

"Hey! The lady says it ain't her." Akane shrugged.

"Don't mindlessly believe whatever the hell she says! Pekoyama was in the office, where the fuse box is! You tripped the breaker to cause a blackout, and stabbed Togami with that knife while we were busy panicking, didn't you?! Fess up!" He yelled at her.

"That's wrong!" Hajime said, attracting our attention.

"Yeah, I don't see how she could've navigated all that way in the dark when the rest of us couldn't see shit." I hummed.

"Well, the night-vision goggles, right?" Kazuichi said, now sputtering.

"I believe the night-vision goggles were actually worn by Togami, but not my point right now. I don't think the blackout was caused by tripping the breaker. Considering her height, Peko couldn't have reached it..." Hajime said.

"Not true! She could've triggered it remotely somehow." Kazuichi brought up.

"I know! Maybe she whacked it with a rock!" Ibuki cheered, making me smile at her enthusiasm.

"Or what if they simply overloaded the breaker?" Mahiru thought out loud.

"I agree with that!" Hajime nodded. "I suspect that the power outage was caused by the three irons set up in the storage room, and the air conditioners in the dining hall and office, which were set to turn on at eleven-thirty. That's practically the same time Togami died." He explained.

"Makes sense. If the perp set it up beforehand, the power would go out no matter their location..." Fuyuhiko agreed.

"Damn straight! Besides, Peko was in the bathroom the whole time! For it to take that long, she was definitely shitting!" Nekomaru announced (in my opinion) way too loudly.

"Um... yes, I... was indeed struck by acute stomach pains upon entering the office. I was unable to leave the restroom thereafter. can we move on from this topic?" She asked in a small voice.

"Geez, this culprit is one sly dog! Now I'm getting worried we'll actually find the creep..." Hiyoko sighed, looking bored.

"It'll be okay, you don't need to worry!" Nagito smiled widely. "We're talking about some lowly killer, you know? they couldn't possibly stand a chance against the Symbols of Hope! There's no way we can lose here. A pathetic trial like this is nothing more than a stepping stone. Hope will win in the end! I tell you, I'm certain of it!"

Hajime and I shared a glance before looking at him with uncertainty. "Nagito, what's gotten into you?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You're acting weird," I said, and Nagito stared me down as Hajime spoke.

"This whole time, haven't you been saying that the killer couldn't possibly be one of us?" Hajime asked.

"Yeah, what's with the sudden change?" I asked and something clicked in my head just then.

Togami checked us all for weapons before we entered the old building. But, somehow, a knife found its way under the table, even though Togami himself had collected all the knives in the whole place. So, how did a knife end up there? Answer; it was hidden there before Togami checked everyone. Which means that someone was inside the building before Togami was who put it there. The paint on the handle and the tape also means that there was preparation. There are only two people who have the time and alibi... and I desperately want to be wrong about one of them.

"Anyway, let's talk about the case!" Nagito changed the subject as I just stared at him, and when he glanced at me, he smiled and seemed to know exactly what I was thinking.

"Although we've managed to figure out the trick behind the power outage, the problem is figuring out who set it up. If we narrow it down to someone who could secretly set the A/C timer and set up the irons, wouldn't that make all of us suspects? I mean, when you get down to it, we haven't found a single clue that traces back to the culprit. Even if we retrace the events leading up to the murder, do you really think we'll uncover who _actually_ did it?" He smirked, and I hated it.

"But I guess it is only natural, after all, none of us here is the killer." He finished, confusing and angering me.

"Hey, you're contradicting what you just said!" Hajime seemed to be growing scared.

"Let's stop already, I've had enough. I don't want to be at odds with my classmates anymore. I mean, who cares if we don't find the killer?" Nagito cut him off.

"Don't you realize that none of us will make it out alive if we don't find the culprit?!" Hajime said, and now I was just getting annoyed.

"Does it matter? Let's call it quits!" Nagito said, and I hated seeing others agree with him over this.

"Oh, my God, Nagito, stop! I know you did it!" I snapped, and everyone fell quiet.

"I what?" Nagito asked, now looking a bit nervous.

"You did it, or at least planned it. I still have to work out some of the details..." I trailed off and then decided to just say my thoughts aloud. "You were the one who cleaned the old building so we could have that party, that gives you plenty of resources and time to prepare whatever you needed from the A/C timer, the irons, the knife, and paint... Also, according to Mahiru's pictures, she took right before the blackout, you were closest to the table Togami was found under. What I find even more suspicious is that that's the only table with a lamp on it, so I think you used the lamp in some way to make it over to the table so you could get to the knife. I think it might have been the cord? Maybe?"

I then fell quiet for a second and held my finger up to show I wasn't done as I stared at him. "The only thing is... you're not dirty. There are no blood splatters on you, and there weren't after the blackout either. Remember? You found me in the darkness, and you were right next to me when the lights came back on. You were clean then, too. Also, according to what Ibuki heard, Togami found something out, and you said 'ow.' So, I don't think you personally killed him, but I think you did plan to kill him. I think something interrupted you, and that something was whoever killed Togami... I just... can't figure out who yet." I frowned, feeling stupid again.

"Well, Nagito? Is she right?" Hajime asked in the silence, and it was quiet for a moment before Nagito bust out into mad laughter, startling all of us.


	9. Chapter 9

"All of you Ultimates are confronting the despair of a friend's death! Ah, how wonderfully beautiful..." Nagito sighed, looking absolutely demented, deranged.

"Nagito, stop fucking with us," I said, bored of his shit.

"Your conclusion is correct. I was behind everything. I'm the one who followed the electric cord in the darkness to the table, and the one who taped the knife under the table... the power outage? My handiwork too, naturally." He admitted.

"You deceived us the whole time?" Hajime sounded hurt.

"I could never deceive all of you! Not Enko, apparently." He waved it off before becoming strangely serious. "I know better than anyone that I'm an insignificant human being. Such an irredeemably worthless, lowdown, horrible, foolish, inferior scumbag who shouldn't dare presume to have any hopes or dreams... to be so impudent as to strive towards something!"

"Yikes! He's the type of guy who'd kill animals around the neighborhood as a kid!" Ibuki said, which almost got a laugh out of me.

"But Enko does have a point. There are no blood splatters on you, and I found blood splatters on sheets in the storage room..." Hajime started.

"So, he covered himself up!" Ibuki exclaimed.

"Someone did, but not Nagito. Remember, Enko said Nagito found her in the dark before the lights came on, and he was still next to her when they did come on. There's no way he could've navigated in the dark to the storage room and back in that little time." Hajime said.

"Incredible!" Nagito exclaimed. "Out of respect for such talent, I must offer a somewhat lesser confession. Before I could grab the knife, I was shoved out from under the table by none other than Togami."

"He shoved you...?" Teruteru looked shocked.

"Yes, my plans for murder ended in shambles. I'm the epic failure who couldn't even nab the knife I had so carefully prepared..."

"You couldn't even shank Togami?" Fuyuhiko sighed.

"But... this brings us right back to square one!" Hiyoko groaned.

"Square one? After all this?!" Nekomaru exclaimed.

"It was all meaningless... no other word means greater despair... but, nevertheless! You can't give up! You must embrace hope, look ahead, and strive to do your best! Your ability to rise up time and time again is precisely what makes you the 'Symbols of Hope!'" Nagito went crazy again.

"Oh my God, if you know who did it, just say so." I pressed my hands to my face. "Cos I feel like you know who did it."

"No, I want you to figure it out for yourself." He refused.

"Fuck you!" I laughed, not believing this. "I'll kill you after this."

"Yeah, you said you'd kill Teruteru, too. Look how that turned out." Nagito hummed.

"Listen..."

"You two just need to kiss already," Ibuki spoke.

"What?" I stared at her. "We are literally talking about a murder here. This ain't the time for that. Fuck off."

I was quiet as they discussed how the killer could've stabbed Togami through the floorboards, and how they would've gotten down there in the first place. I was quiet as Hajime pinned the murder on Teruteru, which honestly shocked me, but I did see all the details working out.

"Yeah, Teruteru was the only one in the building with Nagito. He probably came across Nagito setting up or something and wanted in." I shrugged. "He had time to plan, is all I'm saying."

They then all discussed how Teruteru's voice was heard in the room if he was supposed to be in the kitchen or the storage room, to which we guessed he was still under the floorboards, which Hajime proved by asking him what position Mikan was in when the lights came back on.

"And here I'd expected better... you might as well give up now..." Nagito sighed as Teruteru began to freak out.

"I'm taking that as confirmation that Teruteru did kill Togami." I hummed, satisfied with that, then Teruteru had some sort of fit and began talking in some deep south, Lousiana accent.

"What did he just say?" Kazuichi asked.

"What the fuck. I'm so tired..." I sighed.

"Apparently that was a somewhat rustic way of saying that you are yet to explain the murder weapon." Monomi translated.

"Can't we just forget about the murder weapon?" Nagito smiled.

"He's of the opinion that you can't just forget about it," Monomi said after he yelled some gibberish.

"Oh, my fucking God..." I groaned. "Okay, Mikan's autopsy said the stab wounds were like five millimeters or something. That's super fucking small, right? Nagito did a rundown on the list in the kitchen of supplies the kitchen had. There was one missing iron skewer. I'm betting you still have it, or you hid it. That's the murder weapon." I rolled my eyes, explaining quickly.

"That works." Mahiru nodded.

Monokuma found the skewer to show us, proving me right, and Teruteru looked super scared, which I didn't care at all about.

"Hear how country time lemonade is back to speaking like normal? Must be so you can hear him beg for mercy better! Okay, enough joking around, kids! Time to move onto the vote! Now, hit them switches!" Monokuma cackled, and I hit a vote for Teruteru.

"Well, Teruteru Hanamura, it looks like you hit the jackpot!" Monokuma laughed.

"It's not what you think... I was just trying to save everyone... I was only trying to stop Nagito! He was planning to kill someone!" He pointed to Nagito, who didn't look too phased.

"We've already covered this." I sighed, crossing my arms out of boredom.

"I walked in on Nagito setting up the knife! But he insisted there was no stopping him now... that he'd get the killing started no matter what! Admit it!" Teruteru was nearly crying now.

"Well, how can I put it...? I only planned to commit murder out of the desire to see everyone experience hope. Worthless scum such as I could never shine... which is why I long to see all of you shine instead! You see, I am pursuing the powerful hope that can overcome any despair."

"That doesn't make any sense." Hajime shook his head.

"Doesn't it go without saying that trials are necessary to grow stronger? And isn't it obvious that the harsher the trial, the stronger you'll grow? It's like... wanting to see your favorite boxer take on a tough opponent and win." Nagito explained, and I sort of understood what he was saying.

"Doesn't that just make you a psychopath?" Mahiru blinked.

"I guess... I could see how I might seem that way from your perspective. But I don't believe I quite fit in that category. You see, I don't have the audacity to so much as dream of surviving at your expense."

"Can we please get on with the punishment now? I wanna go to sleep." I groaned, and Monokuma promptly hit a big red button and Teruteru disappeared down a chain that grabbed him from behind.

We all watched as a helicopter dipped him in flour and then down a volcano to deep fry him up in front of our eyes.

"I found a way to cook students deep down! Most folks call it finger-licking good!" Monokuma laughed.

"This outcome is filled with despair. A despair of truly hopeless proportions. But I'm certain we will only grow stronger by overcoming this despair!" Nagito smiled.

"You must be crazy to smile at a time like this!" Ibuki yelled.

"Don't get me wrong... I'm just as sad as the rest of you. Deemed to be hope, I love each one of you, and your talents, with all my heart. So I couldn't possibly rejoice over the loss of one of the 'Hopes' who is the source of my affection..."

"Stop spewing that creepy shit already! I'll fuckin' kill you!" Fuyuhiko snapped.

"Go for it," Nagito said, shocking us all. "If you hate me, feel free to kill me anytime you like. I've already decided to serve as a stepping stone for you guys. But if you're going to strike me down, would you mind consulting with me beforehand? You know, that way so I could offer my assistance. There could be no greater honor for someone with an insignificant talent such as mine... than to serve as the foundation used to elevate your value! In the end, neither Togami nor Teruteru were the Ultimate Hope, but as human sacrifices, their deaths helped bring it closer to being revealed. And I'll have you know, that is an extreme honor."

I couldn't hear anymore and just turned to walk out, holding back the tears and sobs building within me.


	10. Chapter 10

The atmosphere in the restaurant the next morning was pretty gloomy, and I immediately noticed that Nagito was nowhere to be found.

"You guys don't look so good. Your faces all look like you just attended two funerals in a row." Hiyoko said.

"That's like... what happened," Mikan said in horror.

"I'm not talking to you, you ugly bitch!" Hiyoko yelled, making Mikan whimper. "Still, I understand about Mr. Ham Hands, but is there even a reason for us to be sad about Teruteru's death?"

"What the heck do you mean?" Kazuichi asked, but I kept quiet, as I understood her point.

"Well, he was a crazy guy who killed someone! He totally deserved to die!"

"I understand how you feel, but you're going too far," Peko spoke up.

"Yeah, I don't really wanna talk about the death penalty." I shook my head where I sat over a cup of tea and some fruit.

"Is it all right to defend a killer? Are you trying to justify murder?" Hiyoko tempted.

"Are you looking for a fucking fight?" I stood up, now ready to knock her teeth out of her head.

"Hey, now. Here." Kazuichi handed me a tray that had milk and toast with butter on it.

"The fuck is this?" I looked at him.

"Come with me." He said and lead me outside. "It's Nagito."

"Is he okay?" I asked.

"He's fine. We tied him up." He nodded, leading me to the old building.

"You what?"

"Nekomaru and I sort of knocked him out and tied him up. Well, we're not complete monsters, so someone needs to bring him food, and you get along with him best..." Kazuichi scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Okay," I sighed and took the tray, going into the building and finding him on his side in the dining hall.

"Enko?" He asked, squinting like he didn't believe it was me.

"Hey, dude." I nodded and set the tray down, then sat him up.

"What are you doing?" He looked confused.

"I'm bringing you breakfast," I said. "You're not starving on my watch. Want butter?"

He nodded, just watching me as I spread butter on the piece of toast, then held it up to him to take a bite. Nagito looked very unsure, but took a bite anyway and began to chew.

"This is kind of embarrassing, having a girl feed me..." He looked down.

"I don't find it embarrassing." I shrugged. "It's only embarrassing if you choose to think about it that way."

"I guess you're right." Nagito nodded.

I sat there with him, feeding him toast and giving him a drink when he asked for it, and he seemed to know that something was weighing on my mind.

"Tell me what's up, Enko." He nodded, gazing at me as I kept my eyes on the floor.

"You kept talking yesterday about how insignificant your talent is. It's not a real talent or whatever and you feel like you're not like the rest of us, like you're less than us." I said.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I feel the same way." I sniffed, tearing up slightly. "It's not like being a Beauty Queen is an actual talent. I was just sort of born pretty enough to judge. That's not a talent." I shook my head.

"What are you talking about?" Nagito asked. "Don't you do your own makeup for each pageant? For every single shoot? That's talent right there."

"No, that's years of practice." I shook my head.

"Talent," Nagito cut me off. "You smile and look so convincing that you're happy to be on a stage competing when I know it must kill you inside. That's talent right there. Don't even try to tell me that you aren't talented, Enko. You are."

"It's not a real talent, though. I'm not like Mahiru or Ibuki or Hiyoko or someone." I shrugged, wiping my cheek free of tears.

"So? You're unique and you have your own talent. You're an Ultimate, Enko. The Ultimate Beauty Queen. You've won numerous pageants and competitions. You're the best of the best, and I know that that's no easy feat." He said, making me smile a little bit.

"Yeah, but there's not much to being pretty. It's... it's so shallow." I sighed and raked my fingers through my hair. "People see me as a pretty face and they think that's all I am. Have you ever been inside my cottage? There are so many books, I read so much. I love classic literature and poetry. But do people care about my love for Oscar Wilde? No. I'm just supposed to look shiny and always smile all the fuckin' time..."

Nagito was quiet and after a minute or so, he wiggled and slid out of the chair to join me on the floor, and brought his face closer to mine, making me look at him.

"I certainly didn't think that about you when I first met you." He said softly, and I smiled a little. "I mean, of course, I thought you were pretty, but with you, I was thinking mostly about how to not sound stupid in front of someone so ethereal."

That made me laugh a little, and I covered my mouth as he smiled. "Trust me, you didn't sound stupid."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Actually, you pissed me off." I said and his brows rose.

"Oh no, what did I do?"

"I told you my talent when you asked, and you said, 'I see.' I thought you were just seeing my appearance, like everybody else, and I got mad." I shrugged. "I'm over it, though. You've proven yourself different."

"Oh, I'm glad." Nagito smiled a little. "Hey, do you think I'm crazy?"

"Um, a little bit, if I'm being honest. But I don't really blame you for trying to plan a murder." I shrugged. "Just chill it with the whole 'kill me whenever I'm useless anyway' thing. You're not useless."

"I feel quite useless." Nagito shrugged.

"Yeah, well, so do I. And if I'm not allowed to feel that way, neither are you," I said with a firm nod.


	11. Chapter 11

After I left Nagito, I went to check out the second island, and I didn't find it too interesting. I found the library and a diner, but that's all I was really interested in.

There was also this ancient ruin with some writing on the door, but I really didn't care about that.

When it was lunchtime, I went to go eat with Nagito, and we kept talking about anything that came to our minds, as usual.

"Ahem! Hope's Peak Academy School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make. Emergency, emergency! Students, head over to Jabberwock Park as fast as you can! Come on, hurry up! Whoever gets there first, I'll treat you to my special-made curry rice tomorrow night! Come on, hurry the eff up!" Monokuma demanded, then signed off.

I groaned as I got up and went to the park.

"What the fuck is it now?" I sighed, seeing a huge arcade game machine thing. "What's that?"

Monokuma then popped up, and Akane began asking him about his curry rice, and I was rolling my eyes, not caring about some stupid rice.

"An arcade machine!" Chiaki said and went over to it.

"Correct!" Monokuma cheered. "So, I would like the long-awaited Recreation Time to begin!"

"Don't tell me you're going to tell us to play this game." Hajime sighed.

"What's the game? What games are on this?" Chiaki seemed excited, for one.

"I've only prepared one game, but... it's truly a gem. After all, it's a game that I personally created!" Monokuma chuckled.

"Then it is not something I could possibly look forward to playing." Sonia smiled.

"No, no! Don't compare it to those amateur fanservice games... You know that famous game everyone's been waiting for a sequel to? Well, I made a brand-new game instead!"

"Famous game?" Hajime asked, and I had no clue what Monokuma meant, either.

"Now then, I shall present it!" He laughed. "Tada! The name of the game is Twilight Syndrome Murder Case!"

"That's pretty lame. I wanna play games about riddle-solving professors or collecting cute monsters." Hiyoko sighed.

"Stupid! Don't say such silly things! What if we get weighed down by all the quarters?" Monokuma huffed.

"Twilight Syndrome is an adventure game series. The first one was released in nineteen ninety-six. It's about a group of high school girls who go exploring in order to verify numerous urban legends. The player controls the character like a side-scroller." Chiaki explained.

"I have no interest in weak things like video games!" Nekomaru grunted.

"And adventure games are boring and tedious to play, right?" Hiyoko said.

"Don't diss adventure games... Besides, there's a lot of reasons to make one... You know, like budgetary reasons!" Monokuma said happily.

"I usually suck at video games... but I do like the lore of games..." I hummed as I looked at the game.

"Well, aren't you lucky! This one is chock-full of lore!"

"And what's the point of us playing?" Hajime asked.

"Hm?" Monokuma looked up.

"I mean, it's not like you're telling is to play it just to enjoy it, right?" He shrugged.

"Well, you certainly noticed the good part." Monokuma giggled. "This game is gonna be your next motive! The motive you need to kill people! After all, I'm going to get bored if the next blackened doesn't show up soon!" He announced.

"The game is... the motive?" Chiaki wondered out loud.

"In truth, this game's theme is a missing link. You know, it's a recurring theme for mysteries, right? It's kinda like a hidden connection." Monokuma hummed.

"What does that mean?" Mikan asked.

"If you're interested, play it."

"Oh! Um, okay..." She whimpered.

"No!" Mahiru pulled her back. "Mikan, you know it's a trap. Say no."

"Hey, if that's the motive, won't it be okay if we just don't play it?" Kazuichi said.

"I see... that never occurred to me." Monokuma nodded slowly. "But, are you sure you wanna do that? Learning the motive means you're gonna be prepared, you know. Humans who are prepared, and humans who aren't... I don't have to tell you which is strong and which is weak, right?"

"What do you mean?" Mahiru asked.

"For example... if someone secretly played it, that person might come and kill you. In the context of a preemptive strike... that's truly fatal!"

"What do you mean?!" Kazuichi looked a little panicked.

"You guys are all enemies, you know? Is it really alright for your enemy to have an advantage? If you're going to just ignore it, then do whatever you like, even if you're fully aware of the situation." Monokuma giggled.

This all had me thinking hard. He had a point, we're all enemies, even the ones who think of us all as friends. In the end, we can act like friends, but someone is still going to kill someone else.

I went back to Nagito, and he looked surprised to see me.

"I wanna make a deal with you," I said as I sat cross-legged before him.

"Okay," He looked unsure.

"I wanna be like... murder buddies with you. I want to be your friend." I nodded, sure of this.

"Okay?" He looked confused.

"I just... we got a new motive. Monokuma practically won't stop shoving it down our throats." I rolled my eyes. "I want someone that I know won't kill me, and I won't kill them. A sort of safety thing." I explained, and he nodded.

"And you want... me? Are you sure about that?" He said and looked down at his bindings.

"I trust you enough to keep your word to not kill me." I shrugged. "So, we have a deal?"

Nagito smiled widely. "I already considered you my friend, and I would never hurt my friends."

"Good," I smiled to myself and stood up. "See you in the morning, then." And I turned and walked away, planning to release him soon, but I don't know when.


	12. Chapter 12

The next morning, I ran into a freaked out Mahiru outside of the restaurant with a tray in her hands.

"Oh, is that for Nagito? He likes toast..." I looked down at the rice she was bringing him.

"Fine! You feed your freak boyfriend then!" She shoved the tray into my hands and stomped away.

I shrugged and went to go pick up some toast, butter, and milk from the restaurant, then went to find Nagito.

"Hey, Enko." He greeted.

"What did you say to Mahiru?" I asked as I sat down.

"I just asked her to tell me about the new motive. I... may or may not have convinced her to play the game." He shrugged and accepted the toast I held in front of his face.

"You really couldn't have waited for me, could you?" I sighed and started on the rice as he chewed.

"What? On you?"

"I thought we were a team now, Nagito. That means you wait for me, I wait for you, blah blah blah." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, sorry." He apologized. "I honestly thought that was just an excuse of some sort."

I stared at him for a moment before I swallowed a bite of rice. "You honestly don't have much confidence in yourself, do you?"

"Not really," He smiled and took another bite of toast and butter from my hand. "But you. You're beautiful. Why don't you have confidence in yourself?"

"I..." I sighed before speaking. "I feel like everyone only likes me because I'm pretty. No one actually wants to get to know me. And if someone does get to know me, they'll eventually decide I'm too much trouble and they don't actually like me anymore. I just need people to like me... so much. It's exhausting. Like, I find myself making fake personalities to match what I think people expect from me. I use fake voices, too."

"Yeah, I've noticed your voice changes around the others." He nodded. "Are you using a fake voice now?"

"I don't think so," I furrowed my brows.

"What about a personality?" He asked.

"I don't even know what my real personality is at this point." I shrugged with a small laugh. "Geez, that's depressing."

"I want to get to know you. The real you, not a fake you." Nagito smiled and finished off the toast. "So, tell me a secret."

Many flashed through my mind, each one worse than the next.

"Like what?" I kept my face neutral.

"Anything. I wouldn't judge you. And I won't tell anyone." He shrugged.

I went with one of the lighter secrets. "I have a secret tattoo."

"You do? Where? It's nowhere inappropriate, is it?" He asked.

"No, not really." I shrugged and started to unbutton my shirt a little. He watched with interest as I peeled down the left side, moving my bra out of the way a bit, but still covering me so he could see the tiny print right on my breast, above my heart.

"What's it say?" He asked.

"A monster, a man, alive," I read with a little smile and fixed my shirt. "It's a line from a poem I like. It's about my dad." I shrugged.

"Do you... like your dad?" Nagito asked carefully.

"God, no." I scoffed with a smile like it didn't bother me.

"Is he proud of you? With all you've done?" His eyebrows furrowed.

"He doesn't even know." I smiled sadly. "He died when I was fourteen. He left mom and me when I was two."

Nagito was quiet, and I cleared my throat. "There's another secret, I guess," I said as I folded my hands in my lap.

"I'm sorry," He just said. "You've been through a lot, apparently."

"Seems like a lot, but I know there are people out there who have it worse." I shrugged, wrapping my arms around my knees.

"You can't think like that." Nagito shook his head. "That's unhealthy. That's diminishing your problems, and your problems don't deserve to be diminished."

"You're sweet. Thanks." I smiled a little.

"Anytime. I'm here for you." He nodded. "Since we're sharing, and now that I know your dad has passed, my parents have passed, too."

"I'm sorry," I frowned. "That's rough."

"I've had time. It happened when I was a kid. Plane crash." He shrugged.

"Jesus, that's even rougher." I gasped with wide eyes. "My dad just passed from smoking too much. Were you on the plane, too?"

"Yeah, but I'm fine. See, it was my luck. It comes in waves of good and bad luck, like a pattern. So, we got on a plane, but it was hijacked. Then a meteor hit the plane, and killed the hijacker, but also killed my parents. Then I got insurance money and inheritance, but then I was kidnapped. Then I found a winning lotto ticket, and then I end up here. See?"

"Wow. That's a roller coaster." I chuckled as he smiled.

"You know, you're very easy to talk to, Enko."

"I'm taking that as a compliment." I nodded with a smile.

"It is a compliment." Nagito nodded. "I know we all knew each other before this and our memories were wiped, but I feel like I've known you for years."

"Honestly? Same." I nodded and started to relax.

"You two done flirting?" Monokuma said, and I jumped at hearing his voice and turned to see he was now in the room with us.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Only to share some information you may find interesting." He said, an envelope in his hands. He set it on the ground and ran out of the room and around the corner.

I got up and went over, picking up the envelope, and sat back down as I opened it.

"What's in it?" Nagito asked and I shook out some photographs in my hand.

The first one was Nagito hugging me from behind, pressing a kiss to my cheek as I smiled brightly, my hand reaching up and behind me to touch his hair. I blushed and set it down to flick through them, which were just us in various romantic poses until I got to the last one, which was us full-on kissing, mouth to mouth, arms around each other and everything.

Nagito studied them as I set them down, and his eyes were wide.

"So, these must be from before..." He murmured. "You think... we were...?"

"Together? Yeah." I nodded and wasn't sure at all how I felt about that.


	13. Chapter 13

I was sort of in a daze now, and I didn't know if I wanted to stay by Nagito or sort this out by myself in my own cottage.

"Enko? Talk me through your thoughts here." Nagito's voice shook.

"I... don't know what to think." I blinked. "I mean, we already knew that we all knew each other before this whole island thing... so, I'm going to go ahead and say the pictures are real... wait." I hummed as I thought.

Pictures. We have a photographer with us.

"Mahiru," I sighed. "I'm going to go ahead and bet that Mahiru took these when we were students."

"It makes sense." Nagito nodded. "I guess this is why we get along so well, huh?"

I nodded, but my mind was far away from here. I didn't understand something.

"What's Monokuma got to gain from showing us these?" My brows furrowed.

"Huh, I didn't think about that," Nagito said and moved a little closer to study them. "We look, uh, really tangled up there, huh?" He nodded to the one of us kissing, and I let out a nervous giggle.

"I've never really understood how people can take pictures of this stuff. It always seems... too intimate." I shivered, thinking it over.

"So, that out of the way, I guess my real question is, how does this make you feel?" Nagito asked, and my eyes met his.

"Honestly, not as bad as I was expecting..." I hummed softly.

"Really?" He nearly whispered.

"Yeah," I nodded, just now noticing how close we were. I could faintly feel his breath on my skin from how close we were to each other. Do I kiss him? Nagito doesn't seem like the type of person who would make the first move...

Daringly, I raised my hand and put it on his cheek, lifting his face just a little. Nagito kept quiet and kept his eyes on me, and I saw him lick his lips slowly as he watched me.

"Just... tell me if you want me to stop," I whispered.

"I don't want you to stop." He blinked, looking dazed. I smiled a little and leaned down, closing my eyes and touching my lips to his.

God, his lips were soft. Softer than I was expecting. He kissed me back gently, making my head spin, and we eventually parted.

"Okay?" I asked with a little smile.

"I wasn't finished," He frowned, making me chuckle, and I placed my lips back on his.

Fuck, I had no idea how much time had passed. I was growing drunk on his lips, and infatuated every time he struggled in his chains and cuffs and whimpered to get closer to me. It made me feel very wanted, very appreciated, and I liked it so, so much.

Nagito seemed just as needy as I was, and it was mindblowing.

"It's crazy to think that I had a girlfriend. Someone liked me enough to date me..." He chuckled once we parted, but stayed close.

"Yeah. Here I was, thinking I'm an unlikable bitch." I shrugged.

"You are not unlikable nor a bitch." Nagito scolded me. "You're interesting, and beautiful, and amazing, Enko."

"Shut up..." I groaned and covered my face while he grinned and laughed. Nagito then quieted, and I looked over and saw a deep blush on his face.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I just... thought something I shouldn't have." He shook his head. "It's nothing."

"No, hey. I wanna know." I frowned and grabbed his face to make him look at me.

"I just... if we've known each other for years... and we're not really fifteen or sixteen, and we're really older... do you think we've had sex?"

My eyes widened, as the thought hadn't even crossed my mind.

"Oh, did I make you uncomfortable? I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean..." He began to apologize.

"No, no. It's fine. I just..." I took a breath. "I just realized that those memories were stolen from us. Our first time, something that was supposed to be ours." I grit my teeth.

"So, you think we did?" His face went red so fast, it was almost funny.

"I'll be honest and say that I can get a bit... excited at times." I blushed. "But, it's supposed to stay between us and no one else! And someone stole that memory from us. That just makes me mad."

"Hey," He kissed my cheek, and I turned to look at him. "We'll get those memories back, or we can just make new ones. Or both." He shrugged. "Once I'm out of these chains, or when we get off this island, I'll do anything to make you happy."

"You promise?" I smiled softly.

"I swear," He nodded, looking sincere. "If we really were together, you must have liked me quite a bit. I must have liked you a lot, maybe even loved you. I'd do anything to keep you happy, even if it killed me."

"Well, I wouldn't be very happy if you were dead," I pursed my lips, but it only made him smile wider.

"I'm touched to hear that," He said. "Um, are we together now?" His brows furrowed.

"As far as I'm concerned, we've always been a team." I smiled, lacing my fingers through his hair and bringing his face up for another kiss. "Now, what do you want for dinner? I'm getting a bit hungry, so why don't I grab us some food?"

Nagito's eyes shone as he looked at me and told me anything but the rice was fine. I nodded and pecked his forehead before getting up and going to the restaurant to get some trays full of food.

"Hey, where have you been all day?" Kazuichi asked.

"Probably with the freak," Hiyoko spoke up.

"Yeah, I was with Nagito. Got a problem?" I said as I got some foods I've seen him eat before and probably liked on one tray while I got my own dinner on another tray.

"...Your face is red." Kazuichi stared at me. "You didn't... do anything with him, did you?"

"What?" I just asked, staring at him.

"Come on, Enko. Don't play dumb." He rolled his eyes. "Your lipstick is almost always perfect, because you're the Ultimate Beauty Queen, obviously. Now you're hardly wearing any, and your cheeks and ears are red. So, you did something, didn't you?" His eyes narrowed.

"Nothing that's any of your business!" I snapped, and he backed up.

"Oh, Enko!" Sonia skipped over with a bright smile on her face. "All of us girls are having a beach party tomorrow on the second island. Are you in?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure." I nodded. Nagito could live without me for a few hours. Once I had all the food, I went back to the old building's dining hall, where Nagito was now sitting up.

"I almost thought you weren't coming back," He chuckled and shook his head.

"Of course, I was coming back." I smiled. "Kazuichi was just pissing me off." I rolled my eyes and set our trays in the correct positions and I started to feed him.

"I'll kill him for you," Nagito didn't even hesitate, which made me laugh.

"No, no killing for me." I scolded him lightly. "At least, not without me." I then winked and laughed at the sight of him going red.


	14. Chapter 14

The next day, I went to go give Nagito his breakfast, and I greeted him with a kiss.

"So, what are you doing today?" He asked.

"Sonia invited me to hang out with the girls at the beach around four, so I guess that. Other than that, guess I'm stuck with you." I smiled.

"Geez, way to make it seem like a bad thing." Nagito chuckled, knowing I was joking.

I just rolled my eyes, continuing to smile. "You should've heard Kazuichi yesterday. He was getting all suspicious."

"About what?" Nagito asked between bites of toast.

"Apparently you kissed my lipstick off." My eyebrows rose as he smiled bashfully. "And me not having perfect makeup must mean that something is up."

"I mean, he has a point. If you didn't look perfect, I might think something was up, too." Nagito shrugged.

"What? I can't have an off day to let my skin breathe?" I teased, then settled in a spot curled up next to him. "Probably not, let's be honest. I'm way too anxious for people to see me with a bare face."

"Do you think one day I'll see you without makeup?" Nagito asked, looking down at me gently.

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Actually, probably. Like if we were to share a bed one night or something. I don't make it a habit to sleep in my makeup, it's bad for your skin. It can cause breakouts and stuff. Also, I like to cuddle, if you couldn't tell." I said and watched him crack a smile.

"Yeah, I sort of guessed you were pretty hands-on." Nagito nodded.

"Sorry, am I making you uncomfortable? I can back up if you want me to..." I said, but he quickly shook his head.

"No, no way! I like it." He said, and my face broke out into a smile.

"Okay," I sighed and settled back into his side, my arms wrapping around his waist.

"I really, really like this. I just wish I could touch you..." Nagito sighed as we got comfortable.

I then got an idea. I sat back up and grabbed my bag that I took everywhere with me, and started to rummage through it. I pulled out two pocket knives, and flicked them both open, studying the blades.

"Why do you have those?" Nagito asked.

"Protection," I shrugged and went behind him and started to pick at the lock with the smaller one. There was a click after a minute, and the cuffs came undone. I put the knives back in my bag and Nagito practically pulled me over to him, making me giggle as we got comfortable again with his arms around me.

"This is real? I'm not dreaming, am I?" He sighed into my hair.

"Totally real. Want me to pinch you to prove it?" I asked, and he laughed a little.

"No, I believe you." He then turned his face and started to press kisses to my cheek, making me smile. I soon turned my face and let his lips meet mine, and I gave a delighted little hum in the back of my throat.

"You're killing me, Enko," Nagito whined with a small smile.

"What did I do?" I frowned.

"You're just so cute," He said and ran his fingers over my cheek. "So perfect and small and cute. Oh? And the best part? All mine." He leaned in with a smirk.

"Listen, I am not that small." I pouted.

"Smaller than me, that's for sure." He shrugged, still smirking.

"Yeah, cos you're a fucking bean pole." I teased. "How tall are you, even?"

"Five eleven, you?"

"Five-seven," I frowned as his smirk grew. "But that doesn't mean I'm small! I'm above average height!"

"Yeah, but only by a few inches." He shrugged.

"You wait until I get my platform heels on," I warned and turned away.

"No, come back here." He turned my face back toward his and gave me a sweet kiss that made me melt.

We spent most of the day like this, kissing and cuddling and playfully teasing the shit out of each other. I wouldn't have wanted to spend my time any other way, but soon it was about three p.m., and I had to leave him to change into my swimsuit and meet the girls at the diner by the beach.

"I'll see you later, okay?" I said and gave him a goodbye kiss.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Nagito smiled up at me.

"I don't even know what you wouldn't do." I chuckled, shaking my head, and left.

I went to my cottage and showered, then changed into my white and navy striped bikini, then decided to just walk out like that, a large T-shirt in the bag I carried, sunglasses on my head and sandals on my feet.

I went to the diner and got there after Akane, who was bloody for some reason. I also saw Chiaki in her bikini, Ibuki and Mikan in their clothes, and both Kazuichi and Hajime were there for some reason as well.

"Whoa, you're bloody." I stared at Akane, pretending to not notice Kazuichi checking me out.

"Are you really alright? Your head looks like it's split in half." Ibuki asked.

"It'll be alright as long as I rub some spit in it." Akane shrugged and took a seat.

"No! You need to be treated, and your wounds need to be sterilized!" Mikan exclaimed, then forcefully pulled her into the bathroom.

"What is all this noise?" A new voice said, and we turned and saw Peko in her black bikini, also soaking wet.

"Hajime, Kazuichi, why are you two here?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was wondering that, too." I looked at them both, Kazuichi practically drooling now with all these girls in swimsuits near him.

"Aren't you breathing a little heavily?" Kazuichi just asked.

"I just did a little swimming." She shrugged.

"A little swimming?" Hajime asked.

"I swam around the island for about three hours," She said, and it just stuck out to me for some reason.

"Why were you already swimming? You guys are about to swim now, right? Isn't that why you're meeting up?" Kazuichi asked.

"Who told him we were meeting up?" I groaned, putting my head on the table where I sat.

"Well, in other matters, young ladies are sure well-endowed nowadays. How are we supposed to compete against women like Enko and Peko when they look like that?" Ibuki groaned. "Hey, Enko! You ever did any swimsuit contests?"

"Yes," I sighed.

"Underwear?" She asked.

"Only modeling," I answered.

"Nude?!" She grew excited. I didn't answer, but that was an answer enough. "Can I see? Do you have pictures?"

"Like I'd show you!" I yelled.

"So, you do have pictures?" Kazuichi asked, looking like he was going to faint.

"I'll kill all of you." I groaned and put my head back on the table.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry for my delay!" Sonia apologized as she came in, and Kazuichi fucking lost it at seeing her in a wetsuit.

"Well, Miss Sonia does have beautiful, white skin... but that tight outfit of hers is amazing! Just what I'd expect from a one hundred percent purebred princess!" He drooled.

"Wow. Men can really sexualize anything." I rolled my eyes.

"Um, anyway, why are you two here?" She asked the boys.

"Please let us come with you to the beach!" Kazuichi begged.

"Well, this was originally supposed to be a girls-only outing to strengthen our friendship with each other..." She said.

"Do you think you could make an exception? Pretty please?" Kazuichi begged even harder.

"Well, it's okay. It's not like there'd be any problems even if there are some boys." Chiaki said.

"You're right... they came all the way here. It would be bad if we made them leave." Sonia smiled.

I disagreed.

Then they both left the diner to go set up the beach for us, and I rolled my eyes and looked out the window.

I could be getting laid right now or something. I mean, it's probably not good since Nagito and I became a thing just yesterday, but I could be spending my time with him instead of fucking Kazuichi acting like a fool to impress Sonia.

"Are you alright?" Sonia took a seat beside me and asked kindly.

"Yeah, I guess." I shrugged and put on a smile.

"It's Nagito, isn't it? You're worried about him?" She blinked those wide eyes of hers.

"Um..." I just shrugged.

"He'll be alright. I doubt they're going to keep him tied up forever." She assured me.

"You sure about that? Kazuichi is a bit... dramatic." I chuckled, and she smiled.

"Well, I know that Kazuichi carries the key to the locks on him. If need be... I can always get them for you with a little bit of... temptation." She flipped her hair, and I smiled and laughed.

"Aw, you're the best, Sonia. Thank you." I said, then leaned in. "I picked his cuffs this morning, though. Don't tell anyone." I said and she winked at me.

"Get a little handsy, did we?" She said, and I blushed a little. "I called it yesterday when Kazuichi mentioned your lipstick."

"Damn. Is it really that obvious?" I shook my head.

"I think it's cute. You two do get along so well." She nodded.

"Yeah..." I smiled, thinking back to the pictures and how we dated before we came to the island. How everything just seemed to click...

Then the chime rang out over the speakers, and we all froze.

"A body has been discovered!


	15. Chapter 15

I immediately stood up, leaving my bag with Sonia, and bolted out of the diner and back to the first island. The second I got to the old building, I saw Nagito lying on the ground still, and relief flooded through me.

"Enko? There's a new body?" He asked as I started to undo the chains around his feet.

"I don't know who it is, I came here as fast as I could." I shook my head, and he stood and took my face into his hands.

"Wow, really? That means a lot." He smiled softly, and I smiled as his thumb traced my cheek. "Also, you look, um... great." He said, and I remembered I was still in my bikini.

"Oh, thanks." I blushed, then took his hand in mine. "Come on, I bet the body is on the second island. That's where we all just were."

We passed by the diner and saw Ibuki gathering people.

"Where's the body?" We jogged up together.

"WHOA, HE'S FREE!" Ibuki yelled, and I just rolled my eyes.

"The beach house, apparently," Sonia answered, and Nagito nodded and started to pull me away to the beach house.

"Ready to investigate?" He asked as we walked up, and I nodded. We first noticed the footprints by the door in the sand.

"Only one person with feet that small..." I hummed.

"You mean other than you?" Nagito smirked.

"I might actually hurt you if you don't shut up about my height." I playfully glared at him.

"That's if you can reach me," He teased, and I huffed under my breath, taking my hand from him and crossing my arms over my chest.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Nagito smiled and placed a kiss on my hair.

"Better fuckin' be." I huffed. "Anyway, this isn't the time for flirting. We have a body and a crime scene to inspect." I nodded towards the room and heard people about to come up to the house.

The victim was Mahiru Koizumi. The body was found in the beach house at Chandler Beach. The cause of death was a blunt instrument, a single blow to the head. No other notable signs of external injury or ingestion of poison.

"What are you thinking?" I asked Nagito as he moved from the body to look around the room, noticing the mask, the closet where a single yellow gummy bear was, and the missing drinks from the refrigerators in the room.

"We should check out the bathroom." He nodded, moving to the door, and I followed him.

"You're not luring me here to make out are you?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Is that where your mind went?" He looked back at me with a smirk, and I looked away in embarrassment. "Maybe later, but not now."

He looked around a bit, and noticed the window, staring at it for a minute.

"Hey, Enko. Get on my shoulders. See if you can reach that window." He said and crouched down, so I got on his shoulders as he lifted me up, and I could easily unlatch and latch the window.

"Yeah, simple," I said, and he lowered me down again, and pressed me to the wall.

"I thought you said no making out right now?" I smirked.

"I can't appreciate the view for a minute?" He frowned.

"Nope. We have a murder to solve." I said and slipped under his arm, smiling to myself as I left the bathroom.

"Enko, hey." Hajime greeted, then froze when he saw Nagito come out after me. "Nagito... what?"

"I freed him earlier. Old news. Anything else?" I turned to ask Nagito.

"Nope. Let's go." He said, and I gave a wave to Hajime and turned to follow Nagito out to the main island and to Jabberwock park.

"Guess we're playing the game, huh?" I sighed.

"We have to get the full story. You can just watch if you want." He said, and I nodded, training my eyes on the screen. Nagito put a coin in and soon moved me to stand in front of him, his arms on either side of me, and his chin resting on my head as he played the game, and I tried my best to focus and watch.

At the end, I had understood a little but still felt like I needed a timeline of events.

"Any questions?" Nagito asked, his hands leaving the game and dropping to my waist.

"None I can't figure out on my own." I shrugged. "What's next?"

"Now we talk to the characters in the game. I need you to gather them." He said and told me exactly who to gather, and only Hajime, Mikan, Ibuki, and Hiyoko showed up at the airport with us.

"Why did you ask to meet us out here?" Hajime asked, his eyes flicking between the two of us.

"I actually wanted Fuyuhiko to join us as well, but I couldn't convince him to leave his cottage. Whoops." Nagito sighed.

"Typical," I shrugged.

"Wait, playing hooky's an option? Fuck!" Hiyoko swore.

"Well, we'd appreciate it if you answered some of our questions before you left, at least," Nagito said.

"Sorry, when did you two become a 'we'?" Hajime asked.

"Not important. Anyway, any of you play the game out in the park?" I asked.

Ibuki and Mikan said they hadn't, Hiyoko said she didn't touch the thing, and Hajime said he played the game but didn't understand it. They gave their testimonies when Nagito asked about their relationships with Mahiru, and he looked pretty pleased with their answers. Then Hiyoko ran off, and we basically decided that was the end of the interrogation.

"I guess that's it, then. Come on, Enko." Nagito turned away from Hajime as Ibuki and Mikan went to follow Hiyoko out.

"Where to now?" I asked as I fell into place beside him on the road.

"You know, I really appreciate you sticking by me. You trust me, and I just... it's an amazing feeling, to be trusted." Nagito smiled, and it was contagious.

"Well, what sort of girlfriend would I be if I didn't trust you or stick by you? That'd be pretty shitty of me." I shrugged and laced my fingers with his, which only made him smile more.

"I just... I wouldn't blame you if you got tired of me, or if you got bored..." He shrugged.

"Ah!" I cut him off. "You're being self-deprecating again, and I'm not allowing that."

"Ah, sorry." He blushed and looked away.

We got to the cottages and stood outside Mahiru's first. Nagito called for Monokuma to unlock the cottages, who did so, and we found an envelope in Mahiru's with some pictures and a note telling her to play the game. Afterward, I waited outside while Nagito checked each cabin and eventually came to me.

"Sorry, sweetie. I need your footprints, too." He said, and I nodded and stepped on a piece of paper for him to trace around my shoes. "I know you didn't do it, but I don't want to seem biased when I bring this up during the trial."

"It's okay. It's fair." I shrugged. "Want me to do yours?" I asked.

"No way. I can't have you kneeling in front of me. That's disrespectful." He shook his head as he traced around his own shoes.

"But you kneeling in front of me isn't?" I questioned, not following.

"Well, you're worth more than me." He shrugged.

"Nagito..." I sighed.

"You're a goddess compared to me, Enko. You're beautiful and perfect, and I'm a mess. I'm scum. I'm absolute trash. I should be worshipping the ground you walk on. So, having you kneel and touch my shoes... it'd be despicable of me."

I reached over and shut him up with a kiss, which he seemed to melt into. I heard the pencil and paper drop as he took my waist in his hands and tugged me closer, and I let my hand trail up into his hair to keep him close to me.

When we parted nearly a minute later, I smiled softly. "You're not trash, or scum, or a mess. I'm not a goddess, I'm nowhere near perfect. We're equal, Nagito. And we're in this together."

"How can you say that?" He smiled. "That we're equal? Have you seen me? Have you seen yourself? How could we even compare?"

"I'll prove it to you after the trial," I swore with a small kiss to his lips. "Now, anything else before we run out of time?"

"Yeah, one more thing." He gathered the papers, then took my hand and dragged me off.

"Hey, Hajime, Chiaki!" He called to the two by the gates, and they turned to look at us.

"Nagito and Enko, hey." Chiaki greeted us.

"What are you, a stalker?" Hajime spat at Nagito.

"Aw, don't be like that. And here I was about to share what I learned with you..." Nagito smiled, then turned serious.

"You were?" Hajime asked.

"Yeah. If you get down on your hands and knees and lick my shoes, maybe I'll tell you."

It was dead silent before a smile broke out on his face. "Kidding. Anyway, remember how the killer left footprints in front of the beach house, where the murder took place? If you want to learn more about them, I think you should come with us over there."

Nagito then turned and started to walk away as Chiaki said goodbye to Hajime.

"What the fuck was that?" I hissed to Nagito.

"What was what?" He looked down at me in surprise.

"The whole 'lick my shoes' thing?" I asked and he just shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine."


	16. Chapter 16

After a little while, the bell tolled, and we made our way to Monokuma Rock to get to the courtroom for the trial, which I was completely not ready for.

"Who let him free?" Fuyuhiko asked, staring at Nagito.

"I did. This morning. I don't know why people are so surprised. He has to participate." I shrugged.

"Do you not remember what happened last time?!" He snapped at me, and I glared at him. "You're both getting tied up after this."

"I'd like to see you fuckin' try, short ass." I smiled.

"Say now," Nagito started. "Why don't we start the debate with the Twilight Syndrome Murder Case, since it served as the motive this time? I believe those who beat it already know about this, but it's a nonfiction game that was inspired by actual events."

"Not everyone has beaten the game, including me, so could you provide a summary?" Peko asked, and Nagito looked at me as I pulled a piece of notebook paper from my pocket.

"I made a timeline since the gameplay itself is out of order. Let's see here..." I scanned through until I found it.

"Okay, on the first day, Girls A, B, C, and D race to the second floor at the sound of shattering glass. Girl E is already up there and claims that she heard the sound come from the music room. The door was locked, so Girl D had to go get the key before they could get in. Inside, they found the body of a female student who had been killed by a blow to the head. They also saw that the music room window was broken, and the girls assumed that that was the killer's escape route. The murder was mentioned in the paper the next day, and it was mentioned that Girl E's swimsuit had been stolen earlier, prompting the theory that the theft was a preliminary crime by the murderer, motivated by perversion. On the second day, the five remaining girls are talking about the murder case and trying to keep it secret that they were the ones who found the body. On the third day, Girl D wants to talk to Girl E, and she shows Girl E a photo that she took of a broken vase in the room next door on the day of the incident. On the day of the murder, the breaking glass they heard wasn't a window, but a vase and Girl D realizes that Girl E was the true murderer, so Girl D disposes of the vase for her. Then, Boy F goes to the dumpster sometime later and finds the photo of the vase and swears revenge. Then, on day four, someone beats Girl E to death with a metal bat. Finally, there is a cast roll during the credits, and it names in order; Tsumiki, Koizumi, Saionji, Mioda, Sato, Kuzuryu, and Kuzuryu."

"Kuzuryu was named twice because Kuzuryu had a little sister. The dialogue at the end of day three makes it crystal clear. Little sister Kuzuryu was murdered by Girl E, but since Girl D disposed of the evidence to cover for Girl E, people assumed it was done by an outsider. After learning the truth, Boy F avenged his sister by fatally clobbering Girl E with a bat... at least, that's how it went down in the game." Nagito smiled.

"Why are you so goddamn happy?" Fuyuhiko spat. "It's true, I have a younger sister. But what about it? Don't confuse some bullshit story from some shit game with real life!"

"Well, that shit game duped your feeble mind into killing Mahiru for revenge! You're a scumbag, a pest on society, and a walking law-breaker! No one but you could've killed my kind sister, Mahiru!" Hiyoko yelled at him, angry tears in her eyes.

"It's true, Fuyuhiko is suspicious. But the game's story could be a trap to camouflage the true culprit." Peko wondered out loud, and I was just getting all sorts of vibes from her.

"How dare you accuse me, you fugly, runny poo, creepy bitch!" Hiyoko screamed at her.

"Didn't you go to the beach house where the murder took place?" Peko asked.

"No, I was squishing ants all day today." She obviously lied.

"Are you sure about that? Those footprints outside of the beach house were yours..." Hajime said.

"My footprints aren't that repulsive! Those hideous scuffs must belong to Mikan!" Hiyoko yelled.

"Well, that's strange. Then why do they match the footprints I took from your room?" Nagito smirked.

"You went into my room? You freak! Enko, control your freak boyfriend!" She whined, but I didn't really care.

"Only you left footprints of leaving the beach house... that means you must have used another entrance to get inside." Peko hummed.

"Like the door Mahiru was leaning up against?" Mikan asked.

"Also, the letter Mahiru had on her mentioned a rendezvous time, so isn't that evidence you were there when the murder took place?" Nagito asked.

"Come to think of it, I did see you running from the direction of the beach house at about three-thirty..." Kazuichi nodded. "Didn't you also go by the diner, Fuyuhiko? Did you see Hiyoko?"

"No, I didn't see her. After I ran into you and Hajime, I headed right back to the hotel and I didn't see anyone else." Fuyuhiko said.

"So, the letter and Kazuichi's eyewitness testimony speak for themselves. Hiyoko met with Mahiru at the beach house." Peko nodded like this satisfied her.

"Someone is framing me!" Hiyoko wailed, clutching her hair.

"Well, wasn't a mask found at the crime scene?" Sonia spoke up. "'Showering my mask in dazzling justice, I expose the innermost depths of evil most vile. Justice has been served! My justice pierces to the heart of justice! I am the evening star of justice, shining in the darkness of night! I am the one people call, Sparkling Justice!'" Sonia said, and my eyebrows were so far up on my forehead at this point.

"The fuck was that," I said.

"That was Sparkling Justice's catchphrase! I tried my best at translating it. The original lines were mentioned in a documentary by a journalist who encountered Sparkling Justice. Considered a threat to humanity, the elusive Sparkling Justice is a serial killer posing as a champion of justice!"

I blinked and cleared my throat. "That's nice and all, but we're completely forgetting about the logic of this murder," I spoke up.

"We are?" Hajime looked at me.

"Yeah, I mean, look at Hiyoko. Sure, the girl might be a bit of a bitch and like to kill insects, but do you honestly believe she'd kill Mahiru? Hiyoko can't even reach the top of Mahiru's fuckin' head! There's no way she could've whacked her. She doesn't have the height nor the strength, probably." I shrugged, and the room was quiet as we all studied her, trembling where she stood. "Also, I find it a little suspicious why she's not splattered with blood. I mean, we all saw the amount of blood in that room. Some must have gotten on the killer. Yet, here Hiyoko is, totally clean. Well, maybe not totally, but you get my drift."

"You brought this up last time, too, with me." Nagito smiled at me.

"Hey, blood splatter is pretty important, I've learned." I grinned. "Anyway, I don't believe Hiyoko killed Mahiru, I think she was set up."

"You're sure about this?" Hajime asked, looking unsure.

"Call it a gut feeling." I nodded. "It just... doesn't sit right with me. Of course, I haven't figured out who did it yet, but I'm sure it'll come to me."

"But ain't it true that she was the one hiding in the closet?!" Fuyuhiko spoke up. "That's when she dropped the gummy, and no one but her eats gummies here!"

"Okay, yeah, but that was a yellow gummy." I shrugged.

"What the fuck does it being yellow have to do with anything?" Fuyuhiko stared at me as Nagito took a pack of gummies out from his pocket.

"The brand Hiyoko likes doesn't have yellow." He pointed to the flavors listed.

"Did you steal that from my cottage?" Hiyoko seethed.

"I wanted a snack. I didn't think you'd notice one go missing... oops." Nagito smiled meekly, and I couldn't help but grin and shake my head at him.


	17. Chapter 17

"So you think one fucking gummy proves that this was one big set up?" Fuyuhiko seethed.

"Well, that, and how you're so tied up in this. It's almost like you're trying to make it seem like Hiyoko is guilty. And there's the fact that every time we question you, Peko tries to deflect. Suspicious, wouldn't you say?" I tilted my head.

"Don't fuck with me!" Fuyuhiko spat. "I think she's guilty!"

"Even with all the points we just made?" I sighed. "Have you even fucking looked at the girl? Go on, look at her. Look at her and tell me you see her capable of beating someone over the head."

At that moment, everyone looked at Hiyoko, who was still trembling with tears in her eyes.

"Girl can't even tie an obi, but she can murder her best friend? Sure." I said, and it clicked in my head.

"Oh... okay." I smiled a little to myself.

"Just figured it out, did you?" Nagito asked, and now the eyes were on me.

"A little, yeah." I nodded.

"Well? Wanna talk us through it?" He smiled. "Go on."

"Okay, I don't have all the details straight yet, but I'm pretty sure that Hiyoko not being able to tie an obi plays a part in this. I already mentioned the blood splatter, and there is a shower in the beach house, and yeah, the floor was wet, but I don't think Hiyoko used it. Again, she can't tie an obi. She goes days without bathing just because she can't tie a stupid knot. There's no fucking way she washed the blood off of her... also... the shower is out of order... but the floor was wet... give me a second." I held up my finger and wracked my brain for any detail, and then I remembered the water bottles.

"Oh! Fucking... duh! The water bottles." I smiled, so proud of myself.

"Water bottles?" Nekomaru asked.

"Okay, so, in the beach house, there's this huge ass refrigerator filled with all sorts of drinks. The top shelf was completely cleared, but there were a bunch of clear bottles in the trash. I think those were water bottles the killer used to rinse the blood off with." I said, and as I finished, it finally clicked the last piece in place.

"You figure something else out?" Nagito asked me.

"There was an accomplice," I said slowly. "I'm still trying to fit it together, but a bunch of us were in the diner meeting up to go to the beach. There was Mikan, Ibuki, Kazuichi, Hajime, Chiaki, and Akane by the time I got to the diner. Peko came in after me, and she was soaking wet. She said she just swam laps, but that's something she wouldn't have an alibi for. Sure, Akane was covered in blood, but Nekomaru is her alibi since he's the one who injured her when they were fighting..."

"I'm not seeing your point," Peko said in a hard voice to me.

"Fuyuhiko is the one with the most motive, as Mahiru has a connection to who killed his sister. But, you're the one who matches up best with the murderer. So, you two were working together, weren't you? Or, I guess I should say you still are, given the way you're nearly obsessively trying to protect him." I looked over.

"Okay, and why are you so sure there was an accomplice?" Kazuichi asked.

"Because of two things. One, your testimony at seeing Hiyoko running away from the beach house, and when the body discovery announcement was played." I started, pressing my finger to my bottom lip. "I think... and correct me if I'm wrong, Monokuma, that the killer doesn't count as someone finding the body. So, if Hiyoko saw the body and ran away in tears, then Kazuichi found it, why would it have only played for two people? Monokuma is a stickler for the rules, after all. So, I think if someone was with the killer when it happened, they would count as person one. Right?" I looked towards the bear.

"Right you are, sweetums!" He confirmed.

"And you're certain it was Peko and Fuyuhiko?" Kazuichi asked, looking uncertain.

"As I said, Fuyuhiko has the most motive, but the evidence lines up with Peko the most... But I can't figure out how they're connected. I mean, I've never even seen them speak to each other." I frowned, as it was really bothering me.

They all talked about things, and soon Monokuma made us vote, and my hand touched Peko's button, but my brows were still furrowed in thought. Even after the big reveal that Peko was Sparkling Justice, it didn't sit right with me, and I still stared at the floor, thinking everything over.

"I think I agree with Enko. Peko had no motive, yet she was the killer..." Chiaki hummed.

"I am not the culprit," Peko said, making me look up. "I was used as a tool to kill Mahiru by the true culprit, Fuyuhiko. You all voted wrong." Peko said, and I tilted my head.

"Did he have a gun to your head?" I asked.

"No," She answered.

"A knife to your throat?"

"No," She looked confused as to why I was asking these questions.

"Was he threatening you in any way?" I kept my face straight.

"No, of course not..."

"Do you feel like you were manipulated by him?" I asked.

"No!" She started to grow angry.

"Then we voted right," I concluded. "Fuyuhiko may have told you to kill Mahiru, but you didn't refuse. You still did it of your own free will."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm his tool! He planned it all, told me to go through with it...!"

"Nah, you're a human being and you have free will. Anyone can tell you to do anything. That doesn't mean you have to do it. You chose to do it." I said with a straight face to her.

"Sorry, sweet cheeks, but I'm backing up sweetums here. You didn't have to whack the girl, but you did." Monokuma shrugged and stood up in his chair.

"Do you have to call me that?" I looked at the bear.

"What? Loverboy can give you nicknames, but I can't? What kind of world of unfairness is this?" He said, and I just rolled my eyes. "Anyway, why don't we move onto the highly anticipated punishment already?"

Monokuma dragged her away, and we left the room to watch as she took on a hundred fake warriors, and eventually, Fuyuhiko stepped in, got hurt, and she moved to protect him, dying in the process.

"It was all for nothing..." Nagito scoffed. "There is nothing to be gained from ending up like this. If only they had come to me for advice. I feel as if the ultimate ingredients were horribly butchered to make a plate of crap."

"Are you still talking that way?!" Hajime turned to stare at him. "Don't you get our classmates were just killed? Don't you care?!"

Nagito started to smile as he got a crazy look in his eyes again. "I'm frustrated this fills me with sadness and despair... but these feelings of hopelessness are ultimately a stepping stone to make hope shine, and the higher the stepping stone, the greater it will shine. That's the undeniable truth!"

"Nagito?" I asked softly, taking his hand as Monomi announced that Fuyuhiko was still alive. "Babe, can you hear me?"

"Enko, you don't feel the same way we do, do you? I can see it in your eyes." He said and grabbed my face, a big smile spreading across his lips. "You're used to death and despair. But still, you shine so brightly. You shine with hope for tomorrow. It's part of what makes you so beautiful!"

"Okay, that's nice and all, but I need you to calm down a bit, okay? Think you can just breathe with me for a minute?" I said, keeping eye contact with him, and his hands moved to my shoulders as I took slow breaths, and he followed my example until his eyes and face were back to normal.

"Better?" I asked, studying him.

"Better," He smiled and turned to walk out with me.


	18. Chapter 18

"Ahem! Hope's Peak Academy School Trip Executive Committee has an announcement to make. Good morning, everyone! Looks like today is gonna be another perfect, tropical day! Now then, let's show some enthusiasm and make sure to give it our all today!" Monokuma played at seven the next morning.

There was a knock at my door, and I dragged myself up to answer it.

"Morning, Enko." Nagito smiled brightly.

"Hey, morning. Sorry, I just woke up. I still need a little time to get ready." I yawned.

"I'll wait," He nodded, and I let him in. He sat down on one of the chairs as I got my clothes and got changed in the bathroom, then went to the vanity in my room to do a little makeup. Maybe not totally as made up as I usually am since Nagito was waiting, but I could do something light.

"I've never seen you do makeup before. Never really seen anyone do makeup. Mind if I watch?" He asked, and I shrugged.

"Fine by me." I hummed and he pulled up a chair, and surprised me by pressing a kiss to my cheek.

"You're beautiful without makeup, too." He smiled, and I just gave him a look as I spread a primer across my face. "I mean it."

"I know you do," I said, then went in with foundation.

Once my makeup was all done, I put on my shoes and took Nagito's hand and walked to the restaurant with him.

When we got in, everyone was crowded around what looked like a shrine, and Hiyoko was crying.

"Why is she crying again?" I groaned and Nagito chuckled, rubbing my back softly.

"Aw! Hiyoko is adorable when she's embarrassed!" Mikan cooed.

"Shut the fuck up you pig-faced troll!" Hiyoko yelled at her, making my eyebrows raise.

"I need coffee..." I sighed and walked over to make myself a cup, and Nagito just followed me.

"Are you just going to follow her around?" Nekomaru asked him.

"Probably," Nagito nodded. "She doesn't mind, I don't think."

"Nah, I don't mind." I shook my head.

"Also, now that we're talking about those two..." Kazuichi spoke up. "How did a guy like that manage to get a girl before I did?"

"Apparently Nagito and I were dating in school, before our memories got stolen." I shrugged.

"How sweet!" Sonia put her hands together with a smile. It made me smile a little as I carried my coffee and a plate of fruit over to a table.

Monomi soon came to tell us she defeated a Monobeast and a new island was open, and we eventually shooed her off.

"Oh well, who cares about Monomi? More importantly, she mentioned a new island. What should we do?" His eyes lit up.

"We can go check it out after breakfast." I offered.

"I don't think we should be exploring while Fuyuhiko is in danger..." Sonia said sadly.

"But we must move forward, no matter what despair stands in our way! That's what hope should be!" Nagito grinned, starting to go just a little crazy.

"You always say stuff like that right before you lead us into a trap." Hajime sighed.

"You're seriously just as annoying as Monokuma..." Kazuichi rolled his eyes.

Chiaki spoke up, but I just turned to Nagito to speak softly. "You and I can go check out the new island, if you want. Fuck everyone else."

He smiled softly, looking down. "Yeah, you're right." He nodded.

So we left for the third island, and Nagito was immediately drawn to the movie theater.

"Think the movie has our new motive?" He asked.

"That's what I'm thinking," I hummed and got a ticket with him, and we went in together.

Long story short, it was hella boring. An absolute waste of time. That was over an hour I'd never ever get back.

"We should've just made out..." I sighed as Nagito opened the doors for me when we exited. "Oh, hey, Hajime."

"Hey, guys..." He said, looking at us awkwardly.

"I will not have my theater used as a makeout spot for you hormonal teenagers!" Monokuma yelled, shaking a fist at us.

"That just makes me want to spite you." I smiled sweetly, making Nagito laugh.

"We're going to explore along Electric Avenue. Want to join us?" He offered to Hajime.

"Uh, no thanks..." Hajime said, probably still not wanting to be near Nagito.

"Let's go." I tugged on Nagito's hand, and he followed me where we found Sonia kneeling in front of a computer. We took a little look and found an article, the Usami X File.

"Regarding 'The Biggest, Most Awful, Most Hopeless Event in Human History': This tragedy that struck fear into humanity originated from riots instigated by a group of students at the elite private school, Hope's Peak Academy. Dissatisfied with the preferential treatment given to students in the primary department, students in the reserve department began an armed rebellion against the school. Nevertheless it was, at least initially, viewed as a minor school dispute that would eventually move toward a resolution. This view proved gravely inaccurate.

"In retrospect it would appear that this movement was backed behind the scenes by a highly influential power. The movement began triggering riots across the entire land before long, spreading as if it were a social contagion. It was a wave of civil violence different in character from either terrorist attacks or military oppression and with an agenda uniquely its own. However, no amount of speculation could determine the true reason behind these purely destructive activities. Yet still the destruction appeared not to be chaotic, but based on calculated evil and malice. This is precisely what made it so hopelessly devastating.

"In the midst of this violence, the original source of the tragedy, Hope's Peak Academy, saw its long history come to an end. This is when the surviving students... were forced... kill one another... "Despair's way... an example... them," X..."

"I can't even make out the rest." I sighed, sitting back on my heels.

"It's just some sick joke," Nagito shook his head. "The reserve course started an uprising that destroyed Hope's Peak Academy? What garbage. Even if it's coming out of your ass, this is taking things too far."

"Nagito, I don't think it's fake..." I frowned softly. "It mentions surviving students having to kill each other. That's us, right?"

He was quiet, and Mikan came yelling out of nowhere. "Guys! I found something really important! Please come to the hospital!"

"Coming?" Nagito asked in a dead tone, holding his hand out to me, and I took it, letting him pull me up as Sonia led us away.

Once we got into the lobby, I lost all my confidence. I dropped Nagito's hand and ran back outside just to puke at the corner of the building.

"Enko!" Nagito called, and both he and Sonia came over to me. "Are you okay? Are you sick?" He laid his hand on my back.

"No, I'm fine. Hospitals just sort of... freak me out." I panted after I spat the rest of the vomit out of my mouth.

"Oh, dear. Vomiting again? You do that quite a lot, don't you?" Sonia said, her hand on my shoulder, her other hand holding back my hair. I chuckled nervously, and she said she would be right back, she was going to get me some water.

"Sweetie, I had no idea. I wouldn't have asked you to come if I knew you would react like this. I'm really sorry." Nagito said and helped me stand straight up again.

Sonia handed me a cup of water and asked if I was okay.

"Yeah, I'm good. It's just... probably best that I don't go back in there." I chuckled, now very shaky.

"You're shaking like crazy. Here, we'll go back to the first island, and I'll make sure she eats something." Nagito told Sonia, who nodded and told me to feel better.

Nagito walked me to the restaurant on the first island and got me some cut up fruit and sat with me as I picked at it.

"Sweetie, you need to eat." He said, and it only made me tear up and shake my head. "Why not?"

"I just can't." I sniffed, and he raised my head.

"Tell me what's wrong." He murmured.

"I just... before Hope's Peak, I spent time in a hospital, and it wasn't exactly the best time of my life." I sniffed as he wiped my cheeks.

"That's understandable. Do you want to talk about it?"

Here Nagito was, being so patient and understanding, and I was just hiding so much from him.

I promise, Nagito, one day I'll tell you.

"Not now," I shook my head.

"Okay. Whenever you're ready, then." He nodded and nudged my plate back toward me. "But for now, can you eat a little more? Just for me?"

I stared at the strawberry halves on my plate and the orange slices, and decided I could finish those off for him... maybe the pineapple, too...

"Thank you," He smiled and reached across the table to place a kiss on my forehead, which made me extremely happy.


	19. Chapter 19

Fuyuhiko got out of bed the next morning and tried to kill himself in front of all of us as an apology, Ibuki invited us all to a concert, and Akane tried to fight Monokuma and ended up getting Nekomaru hurt. Nagito then turned the traitor blame onto Hajime, and none of those were still the most interesting thing to happen this week.

I woke up to Nagito sweating buckets, and I quickly got myself ready for the day, and I was dragging him to meet Mikan and see what she could do.

"Hey, Hiyoko!" He called as we walked to the restaurant. "Listen up! Mahiru is actually alive! I saw her enter the theater with my own two eyes! It had to be her!"

Both Hiyoko and I were staring at him with wide eyes.

"Don't lie about stuff like that!" Hiyoko yelled and stomped into the restaurant.

"I'd never tell a lie..." Nagito chuckled and pulled me along.

When we got into the restaurant, Hiyoko was complaining to Hajime, and Akane was bawling her eyes out. In public? Weird.

"If I may be so bold, I'd like to offer my first salutations of the morning!" Ibuki saluted me, and I turned to Mikan to speak, but Nagito cut me off.

"Careful, Ibuki! Hajime's dangerous! He's planning to kill and eat you!"

"Why would you say that?" Hajime exclaimed.

"Mikan, Nagito'a running a super high fever. He was literally sweating buckets when we woke up..." I said.

"You slept with him? Gross." Hiyoko giggled.

"Ibuki and Akane also have fevers..." Mikan said, and I went over and felt Nagito's forehead, and he was just staring at me with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

"What? What's up?" I asked and he looked away.

"You know, I really hate it when you touch me, Enko. Your touch literally repulses me."

I swore my ears were ringing as the room went dead silent. I let my hand drop and I was too in shock to even tear up.

"Oh, that sounds bad!" Monokuma said, and I didn't even care. I didn't hear a thing he said, as I was too busy staring at Nagito in shock. Yesterday, he was so kind and understanding... what happened??

I snapped out of it when Nagito collapsed, and Mikan rushed him to the hospital. I stood outside, Sonia right next to me.

"You know he didn't mean a word, right?" She said, holding my arm. "Monokuma said he had the Liar Disease. Everything he said was a lie. That means he loves it when you touch him... I think."

I didn't respond, I only stared at the doors, willing myself to go inside and just see that he's okay.

"I know it's hard, but you have to go in there." She said softly.

"What if they don't let me out again?" My voice cracked as I held back the tears of fear.

"Mikan would never," Sonia gasped. "Look, I don't know what experiences you've had before, but Mikan would never hurt you. She can't hurt a fly, she'd feel too guilty. Besides, it's Nagito we're talking about. Just keep in mind that everything he says is a lie. Just translate it." She said, and I nodded and stepped inside.

Hajime told me Nagito's room, where he was now awake and just staring at the wall. He heard me come in and scowled.

"I'm not sorry, you know? I hate you. I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you."

Instead of tearing up again, I smiled and took the seat next to his bed. He's sorry and he loves me. Okay, I can do this. Just keep translating...

"Yeah, I hate you, too." I smiled softly and took his hand.

"How are you even here? Aren't you going to be a coward and throw up again?" He sneered.

"Yeah, well, you're more important than my history with hospitals." I shrugged, and he looked genuinely shocked, which made me grin.

"You're disgusting, I hate you." He said and I just leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"No, no, no!" Mikan squealed as she came into the room with rags and stuff. "No kissing allowed! You could catch the Despair Disease, Enko!" She said.

"I don't care if I catch it." I shrugged.

"I care!" She huffed.

"I don't care," Nagito said.

"Aw, thanks, honey, but you don't need to worry about me. My immune system is pretty strong." I said, squeezing his hand, and he squeezed my hand back, making me smile.

I stepped back and let Mikan work, but I wasn't leaving anytime soon. Nagito seemed to be getting drowsy, and he was basically just talking nonsense at this point.

"Your makeup is hideous, Enko. Also, have you seen yourself without makeup? Horrendous. I don't know who you think you're fooling wearing all that paint and skimpy, slutty clothes like those. You look like a whore." Nagito said sleepily.

"If you don't be quiet, I'm going to fuck you right where everyone can hear us," I warned with a smirk, and Mikan squeaked while Nagito's face turned bright red and his eyes shot wide open.

Then he began babbling, and it was the funniest thing I've ever heard in my entire life.

"I don't want that! Why the fuck would I want that! Who would ever want to sleep with you? Absolutely no one. Sleeping with you is not something I'd want to do. It's so low on my list, I don't even think about it! Why would I want to think about that! And with you, of all people! I'm unlucky for a reason, and this must be it." He said, his blush getting deeper and deeper.

Mikan squeaked again and ran out as I started on my way over to the bed, and Nagito watched me, growing quieter and quieter as I approached.

"So, you don't want me to fuck you?" I questioned, tilting his face up, and Nagito whimpered.

"No, you bitch." He whimpered. I smirked, then leaned down and molded my lips to his, and he desperately kissed me back. He tried to raise himself off the bed to get closer to me, but I held him down with a hand to his chest.

"Ah, don't overexert yourself. Relax." I murmured, and he shook his head and relaxed into the pillow, making me smile.

"Now, you can't honestly consent to anything right now, so I'm not going to do anything, but afterward, when you're better and if you still want to, we'll talk about it," I said, placing a kiss on his forehead and pet his hair a little.

"That feels awful. Get off of me." He mumbled, closing his eyes, and I smiled softly and kept it up until he was asleep.

I gave him a last kiss before I walked out, and Mikan was waiting outside patiently.

"You didn't... do anything, did you?" She whimpered.

"Nah, but he's asleep now," I said and she nodded and went back in to finish up her job that I interrupted.

"You survived!" Sonia cheered when she saw me walk out into the lobby. "How's Nagito?"

"A lot better, actually. He's asleep now." I nodded and joined the group.

They all got to talking about splitting up but staying close, and it was decided that Hajime, Fuyuhiko, and I would be staying at the hospital since we've had contact with the infected people. Everyone else would be at the motel nearby, should we need them.

"Sorry about how Hiyoko's treating you," I said to Fuyuhiko after Hiyoko practically threw him under the bus and they all left.

"It's what I deserve." He sighed with a shrug. "I'm not expecting to be forgiven anytime soon."

"But still. She can be civil and still not forgive you. Treating you so bad is practically rubbing salt in the wound." I crossed my arms.

"So, um, you and Nagito, huh? How's that going?" He coughed, and I smiled at how quickly he changed the subject, but I played along.

"Pretty well... well, aside from earlier at the restaurant." I shrugged.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Oh, we didn't realize anyone was sick yet, and I wanted to talk to Mikan about checking Nagito out since he woke up with a fever, and I went to feel his forehead and he said full out in front of everyone that I repulse him," I said and his jaw dropped. "Yeah, then Monokuma decided to tell us that Despair Disease was a thing." I rolled my eyes.

"Fuck, that must've felt awful."

"Oh, yeah. I definitely blacked out like the next minute or so." I shrugged. "But then we found out that all Nagito says are lies now, so I was over it pretty fast."

"But still... I can't imagine hearing that, lie or not." Fuyuhiko shook his head. "But still, Nagito adores you. He'd never mean something like that."

"Yeah? How do you know?" I asked.

"Between you and me, you did not hear this from me, he hardly shuts up about you when you're not around, which is not that often. Like, you guys are practically glued together. But like, you went to the bathroom this one time while we were all eating, and Nagito was just staring at the door, waiting for you to come back. Akane asked him what was up, and he literally just sighed. Like, a dreamy fucking sigh, too. Then he wouldn't shut up about how pretty you were and how the mere sight of you fills him with hope, and... swear to fuckin' God, 'every minute she's away fills me with unimaginable despair.'" Fuyuhiko quoted, and I just smiled.

"Bastard sure has a way of expressing things." He said, and I just shook my head, still smiling.

"I think it's sweet."

"I think he's obsessed with you." Fuyuhiko gave me a look.

"Well, how else am I supposed to take over the world if at least one person isn't obsessed with me?" I joked, actually making him smile.


	20. Chapter 20

Nagito definitely got worse before he got better, and last night he told me to leave him the hell alone with these puppy dog eyes, which told me he really wanted me to stay with him. I moved to sit down in the chair next to him, but he scooted aside on the hospital bed to make room for me, and I kicked my shoes off and climbed in with no hesitation.

Past me, freshly discharged from the hospital me, would've been appalled.

"A body has been discovered!" Played the next morning, and my eyes opened to stare at the ceiling.

"No, not this soon..." Nagito grumbled and held onto me tighter, his head on my shoulder.

"Nagito?" I hummed.

"Yeah, sweetie?"

"How... how are you feeling?" I asked and raised my hand to touch his forehead.

"Oh, just fine. Whoa, I'm not lying anymore!" He said with a big smile and looked up at me.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." I said, and he sat up to look down at me, pushing my hair away from my face.

"Enko, you are the most beautiful person I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. I'm so blessed that you choose to spend your time with me, and you actually see me as an equal worthy of being with you. Your very touch makes me feel alive, and every single time you kiss me, I feel better than I've ever felt before. I'm truly sorry for the things I said, the ugly lies I told you. I saw how they made you feel, and I never, ever want to make you feel that way again. I told you I would do anything to make you happy, and I still mean it." Nagito said before he kissed me.

"Well, that's one hell of a way to prove it." I smiled and ran my fingers through his hair, then I was brought back to reality. "Now, as much as I would absolutely love to spend all day with you like this, we have a body and a crime scene to inspect," I said and he nodded and helped me out of bed and to find the others at the music hall.

"This is troubling..." Nagito muttered and dropped my hand as we saw Ibuki lying on the ground with a rope around her neck and Hiyoko all tied up against a pillar.

"Nagito! Akane! Are you guys okay?" Hajime asked.

"Of course," Nagito waved it off.

"What do you mean, of course?!" Mikan squealed.

"Are you guys talking about the Despair Disease? Geez, that's totally over now." Monokuma said, and I didn't even notice he was here.

"Over?" Monomi was here too, apparently.

"Yeah, I got bored." Monokuma shrugged. "And now that the killing has started, there's no reason to keep that motive around anymore!" He then chuckled.

Monokuma then gave us the file and left, and I opened it while everyone else argued about doing the investigation.

There were two victims: Ibuki Mioda and Hiyoko Saionji. Ibuki's cause of death was a crushed windpipe as a result of choking. There are no other external injuries. Hiyoko's cause of death was blood loss due to her throat being slit by a sharp-edged tool. It appears her death was instant.

I put away my student handbook and took a look at the scene, subconsciously fanning myself with the collar of my shirt before I realized what I was doing.

"Why's it so fuckin' hot in here?" I said, then it clicked in my mind. "The bodies! Someone get the thermostat down now!" I said and scanned the room for a thermostat.

Fuyuhiko found it and brought the temperature down to sixty-seven to maybe preserve the bodies just a little longer.

"Why kill two people?" Chiaki wondered out loud. "I mean, the more people you kill, the more clues you leave, right? Or... was there a reason that they _had_ to kill two people?"

"Had to? That's interesting." Nagito nodded thoughtfully.

"What's this broken thing?" I nudged the mess on the floor with my foot.

"Oh, Kazuichi built a sort of transmitter so that we could keep in touch," Hajime explained. "You didn't really know about it since you spent all your time in Nagito's room..."

"Thank you, Hajime!" I cut him off loudly, and Nagito just smiled sweetly at me.

"You what?" Nagito stepped closer to me.

"You didn't hear shit, mister!" I poked his chest with a stern face, but he just caught my hand with a smile.

"You stayed in my room the whole time? Even when I was unconscious?"

"It's not creepy!" I huffed, looking away.

"I never said it was creepy. I think it's sweet that you cared so much." He said and kissed my knuckles, still holding my hand.

I felt my cheeks blush, and I wanted more, but I dropped my hand and mumbled something about the investigation, turning away and hoping that no one else saw all of that.

We found a drumstick and glue used to keep the door shut, a candle on the stage, and then Hajime came over.

"Hey, so I have a question for you," Nagito called him over.

"Yeah?" Hajime looked cautious.

"I heard that you witnessed the incident from the very beginning, right?" Nagito asked.

"So, what?" Hajime just blinked.

"Can you provide me with a summary of the incident?" He asked, and I skipped up to his side.

"Oh, yeah! Same here, please!" I smiled kindly.

"No," Hajime said, and I furrowed my brows.

"What? Why not?" I asked, straightening up and losing my smile.

"Because all this guy wants to do is confuse us! I'm not about to give him what he wants!" He said, and I groaned and rolled my eyes, attracting a little attention.

"Would you drop your fuckin' grudge already?" I gave him a look, and he actually looked shocked.

"Enko?"

"No, Hajime. You're being a stubborn asshole at this point. You have important information about the case and you're deliberately choosing not to share it. You know that just makes you look like you have something to hide, right? It's not working in your favor."

"No, Enko, it's okay." Nagito tried to reach for my hand to calm me down.

"No, it's not!" I huffed. "It's not okay for him to keep treating you like this! It's been going on for fucking ages, since the first trial! I'm sick of it."

"It's not my fault he's delusional." Hajime crossed his arms, and I whipped my head over to stare at him.

"You wanna say that again? I think I misheard you." I warned.

"You really don't see how he's constantly trying to confuse us for his own gain? All he talks about is how he wants to die and how we should kill him! How does that not sound crazy to you?" Hajime blinked.

"Is that literally all you hear?" I laughed, not able to help it at this point.

"Look, just because he's your boyfriend or whatever doesn't mean you have to tolerate him like this," Hajime said, and I'd had enough.

I took a breath before I said the words I'd probably regret later on.

"If Hajime ends up dead, just skip the investigation. I did it." I said, staring straight at him, and heard faint gasps from the others.

"Is that a threat?" Hajime asked.

"Kinda," I shrugged.

"You don't mean that Enko, come on." Fuyuhiko tried.

"You wanna test me? Let him keep talking shit, see what happens." I nodded.

"Nagito, get her out of here before she murders someone," Fuyuhiko said, and Nagito took my hand and pulled me outside and around the corner of the building.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, letting the back of my head meet the bricks.

"You didn't mean that," Nagito said softly.

"I did," I said and closed my eyes, trying to calm down.

"You would kill for me?"

"Of course, I would." I opened my eyes and gave him a little smile. "Hajime's a stubborn fucking dick. No one gets to treat you like that while I'm around."

"You're too nice to me." Nagito smiled while looking at the ground.

"It's my job." I just smiled and let my eyes close again. "Listen, Nagito, this shit about wanting to die for our hope, it's gotta stop. If you died, I'd be really sad, and you don't want me sad, right?"

"Right," He whispered.

"And if I became that sad again, I'd have to go to the hospital again, and you know I hate hospitals," I said and felt him take my hand.

"Can I just say how thankful I am that you stayed with me even though you hate hospitals so much? It really means a lot to me." He sniffed. "No one's ever been so nice to me."

"It's like I said, you're far more important," I said and let my thumb stroke his hand. "When I was in the hospital, my mom and my best friend came to visit me twice a day every single day. My friend skipped school to visit me. Her parents didn't care, because they knew why, but the school came down on her hard. She gave the same excuse. I was more important to her than a few classes. It's the same for me with you." I explained.

When I opened my eyes to look at him, he was crying silently, tears sliding down his cheeks as he tried to keep a wobbly smile on his face.

"I really mean that much to you?" He asked, and I pulled him into a hug.

"You mean so much more," I assured him.


	21. Chapter 21

I was going into this trial with hardly any information, but I didn't really care. I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way.

"I don't mind starting the trial, but I don't really have a grasp of how the case played out," Nagito said to start us off.

"Even if you do grasp it, you're just gonna confuse the heck out of us, aren't ya?" Kazuichi said.

"I swear to God..." I sighed.

"But Nagito's not alone. I don't really get it either." Akane said.

"You're fine. Your head's empty anyway." Kazuichi said, and my eyebrows shot straight up my forehead.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I stared at Kazuichi.

"Anyway, we can't proceed with the trial if those two can't participate in the arguments," Chiaki said.

"Three, I'm kinda lost, too." I rose my hand. "Because Hajime's fucking picky about who he tells what."

"I have good reason to be picky!" He argued.

"You literally have no reason, you child!" I snapped back.

"Hajime, just tell us what you witnessed. It'll be easier for all of us." Akane said.

"Fine. I'll start with the Hospital Team and the Motel Team. The Hospital Team consisted of Nagito, Akane, and Ibuki, who were infected, and Mikan, Fuyuhiko, Enko, and me." He started.

"The other five were me, Gundham, Kazuichi, Chiaki, and Hiyoko," Sonia said.

"Spending the night at the hospital was prohibited, so Hajime and I had to sleep at our cottages," Fuyuhiko said.

"It was?" I blinked, then looked at Monokuma, who blushed.

"I let it slide for you because I didn't have the heart to separate the two lovers. Shut up." He crossed his arms and looked away.

"Aw, thanks." I smiled, actually grateful.

"Anyway, I woke up at my cottage on the day the incident happened. Mikan came by to wake me up and told me that Nagito had recovered from his symptoms. We immediately headed over to the hospital, and after we confirmed his recovery, I made Mikan rest in the on-call room since she hadn't slept all night, while I waited in the hospital lobby. And then I saw the incoming signal light on the surveillance camera blinking before our scheduled time. When I pressed the button to turn on the monitor, what appeared onscreen was a video of someone wearing a hospital gown and a hemp bag on their head, climbing a stepladder."

"Amazing! That's such a heart-pounding story! And then what did you do, Hajime?" Nagito asked excitedly.

"I tried to stop them, of course. I rushed out of the hospital and ran to where the video was being recorded - the music venue - but it was too late. By the time I arrived, the person wearing the hemp bag on their head was already hanging from the ceiling. I thought I should tell the others right away, so I headed to the motel."

"Why the motel?" Nagito asked.

"Because it was close to the music venue, and unlike the hospital, there were more able-bodied people there," Hajime said. "At least, that's what I thought. But the only person who came with me was Chiaki."

"But I remember feeling a little relieved, because not long after we met up with Mikan and Fuyuhiko," Chiaki said.

"We were also looking for Ibuki since she disappeared from our sight," Fuyuhiko said.

"After I rested a bit, I started counting everyone at the hospital, and then I noticed Ibuki was gone, so I sprinted out of the hospital... Coincidentally, I ran into Fuyuhiko, so I pled with him in various ways to see if he could help me out."

"Various ways?" Kazuichi exclaimed.

"Don't say it like that and confuse people." Fuyuhiko blushed.

"After I heard from those two that Ibuki disappeared, I had a feeling she was the person wearing the hemp bag. So I led them to the music venue." Hajime said.

"But the door wouldn't open. Since we had no other option, the four of us broke down the door, and when that happened, we didn't just find Ibuki's body, we also found Hiyoko's. And not just that, her body was taped to a pillar." Fuyuhiko said softly.

"That's when we heard the body discovery announcement not once, but twice in a row." Hajime nodded.

"And, so, we decided to lower the hanged body, didn't we?" Mikan stuttered.

"When we removed the hemp bag, just as we feared, it was Ibuki." Hajime sighed.

"So, that's how the case played out. Thank you, I understood it very easily." Nagito nodded.

"Well, it's clear what the problem with this case is. When Hajime left the music venue, who...?" Fuyuhiko tried.

"Wait. How do I know anything Hajime just said is true?" Nagito cut him off, and Hajime just stared at him. "Sorry, I'm only being impartial right now. And the story I just heard is clearly suspicious."

I agreed, but I was going to keep quiet for now and just hear how this played out.

"Hajime, if you're the only one who saw the hanging video and the first one to discover Ibuki's body, then you could be lying as much as you want right now, right?"

"Lie? Why would I lie?" Hajime asked.

"Obviously, so you could make us ignore what might be an inconvenient truth for you." Nagito shrugged.

"Do you doubt me?"

"Not necessarily," I spoke up. "I, personally, agree. Given all the testimonies we just heard, I heard quite a few moments where someone could be lying about what they were doing. So, just so we can be absolutely sure, prove you're not lying." I shrugged.

The others talked as Hajime was silent, and the second Nagito brought up that boring ass movie which the deaths looked like they were inspired by, Hajime shut him down.

"There's no way I'd be able to imitate that movie!" Hajime said, and Nagito continued to smile.

"Of course, you're not! I already knew that." Nagito said sweetly. "Before the incident, Hajime had never seen the movie. His invitation ticket is proof enough."

"Hold on a sec! You're the one who brought this up in the first place!" Kazuichi exclaimed.

"Yeah, Hajime had the most suspicion on him." I rolled my eyes. "Isn't it better to just narrow it down at the start?"

"You're really just going to have his back no matter what, huh?" Kazuichi stared at me.

"Oh, don't act so surprised." I rolled my eyes, leaning on the podium.

"Well, now that we know that Hajime's testimony is reliable, let us move onto the arguments," Sonia said as everyone grumbled about Nagito fucking with them again.

I just smiled proudly.

"Well, we can all agree that it was Ibuki who climbed the stepladder, right?" Akane asked, and got a few nods. "So, she definitely committed suicide!"

"But a murder happening in the same place as a suicide? In this sort of situation? I don't think so," I spoke up.

"As I said before, it's clear what the problem with this case is," Fuyuhiko said. "The killer murdered Hiyoko while Hajime was gone, so all we gotta do is establish who could've possibly done that!"

"I think you're going out of order..." I tried, but no one seemed to hear me.

"Then let's ask Hajime... how long were you away from the music venue?" Gundham ignored me.

"I couldn't have been gone for more than ten minutes." Hajime shook his head.

"So, they killed Hiyoko and taped her up within ten minutes? There's no way that's possible." Kazuichi said, and I just rolled my eyes and looked away as Nagito chuckled.

"That's why the killer stalled for time by making the music venue a closed room."

"But if they did that from the inside, then the killer would not have been able to leave the room," Sonia said, and Fuyuhiko agreed, and I was gripping my hair in frustration at this point.

"You okay?" Kazuichi asked me.

"You all are idiots," I sighed. "Doors open from both sides, Jesus Christ..."

"Oh... right." Akane nodded.

"There were broken drumsticks and glue on the door, but I think the drumsticks were a red herring. I don't think they were actually used to lock the door at all." I explained.

"Oh. That... makes sense." Fuyuhiko admitted.

"So, during the ten minutes Hajime left the venue, the killer murdered Hiyoko and created a closed space?" Gundham asked.

"Wrong order!" I said a bit louder so maybe they would pay attention to me.

"Oh? What makes you say that?" His eyebrow raised.

"Well, one is the Monokuma File. Notice how it specifically didn't give a time of death? I found that odd right off the bat, like the time of death might give away something big. I personally think that both Ibuki and Hiyoko were killed earlier, then Hajime found Ibuki, and in the ten minutes between the music venue and motel, the killer had set the scene the way they wanted it for us to find it."

"But that doesn't answer the question of how Hiyoko suddenly appeared." Hajime shook his head.

"I agree with Enko. It's possible that Hiyoko's body was just revealed at that time like she was hidden." Nagito said with a smile.

"Just revealed...?" Mikan stuttered.

"Of course. The body wasn't revealed on its own. The killer did that, too." Nagito said. "Here, I have proof." He said then went on to show a scrap of wallpaper and explained how Hiyoko was taped to the wall, killed, and simply covered up with wallpaper around the pillar.

They covered a few more topics, like the imitation killings, the blood on Ibuki's shoes... and then something happened.

"Actually, bleeding stops once the heart stops beating, so the killer probably didn't have to go that far," Mikan said nervously.

"Aside from Mikan, none of us were aware of that fact, so the killer probably didn't know it either," Sonia said, and my head snapped up so fast.

"I swear, I just saw a lightbulb flick on over your head." Nagito laughed to me.

"You figured something out?" Kazuichi asked.

"Fuck yeah, I did." I nodded, gazing off into space, piecing everything together.


	22. Chapter 22

I listened on as they talked about things like there being two step ladders, the video being a hoax, and the filming location actually being the conference room inside the hospital. All the while my grin was just growing and growing.

"You wanna explain to us while you're grinning so creepily?" Akane asked me.

"Don't know if you're ready for me to explain it yet." I hummed.

"What are you talking about?" Hajime asked.

"I know who the killer is..." I sang with a smile.

"You do? How?!" Kazuichi gasped.

"Go on, explain it." Nagito nodded eagerly.

"Who's the one person that was in the hospital at the same time Hajime saw the video? The one person that nobody else had their eye on? The one person who has an alibi that no one else could account for?" I smirked.

"...Mikan," Chiaki breathed, and all eyes in the room turned to the nervous girl.

"Mikan apparently had been up all night to take care of the people infected. That gives her plenty of time to kill Ibuki and Hiyoko and set the stage. Her going to wake Hajime to tell him Nagito is better gives her part of an alibi, sure, but then he sent her off to get rest. Who knows what she was really doing during that time." I hummed, my fingers tapping against my cheek.

"A clumsy, slowpoke like me killing someone...? That's completely out of the question!" Mikan cried.

"But Enko's right. You and I are the only ones with an alibi..." Hajime said.

"It's just a coincidence!" She cried louder.

"But you're the only one who could've filmed that video in the hospital conference room," Hajime said.

"Yeah, and the only other people in the hospital were me, Akane, and Enko. And Akane and I were delirious." Nagito hummed.

"What about Enko?! She didn't have Despair Disease! She was perfectly healthy! Why couldn't she have done it?!" Mikan wailed.

"Because we checked on Nagito, remember? And Enko was asleep right next to him." Hajime nodded.

"So that must mean..." Gundham started.

"Wait a second! I'm not the killer!" Mikan cried even harder. "That's impossible! There's no way I could kill someone!"

"It's not literally impossible. Can't you give a better defense than that?" Nagito chuckled.

"Why do you all hate me so much?" Mikan whimpered and wiped her tears. "I'm not the killer! You've got it all wrong! Please forgive me!"

"I'm sorry, but there's no way I can forgive you," Nagito said with that serious look on his face again. That look put butterflies in my stomach every time.

"Forgiveness or not, we still haven't decided if Mikan is the killer..." Sonia said.

"I see, you guys are kind... Well, if that's the choice everyone makes, then the only thing I can do is back off, I guess." Nagito sighed. "But is this everyone's hope?"

"You're friggen' annoying! If you keep talking, I'm seriously going to beat you up!" Akane yelled, cracking her knuckles.

"You lay one fucking finger on him, and I'm going to gouge your fucking eyes out." I smiled at her.

"But really... I'm not the killer..." Mikan was still crying.

"Is that really true?" Hajime asked, making her scream in surprise.

"Stop it already! That's enough!" Akane yelled at him.

"Oh, would you stop falling for her innocent act shit? We already provided the evidence!" I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Huh?" Mikan suddenly changed, suddenly stopped crying, and it sure took Akane by surprise. "So, in the end, you're all a bunch of bullies, huh? Justifying your actions with fancy words... making excuses for why it's not really your fault... everyone always treats me like that! Always! I'm done with that! You hear me?! I'm done!" She suddenly screamed, gripping her hair.

"Hey, Mikan...?" Fuyuhiko asked nervously.

"It's not fair... it's not fair, not fair, not fair, not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair not fair notfairnotfairnotfair...!" She screamed again and again.

"Why won't you forgive me?! If you did something wrong, you'd forgive yourself right away! Like Enko! Remember when she got drunk by drinking that whole bottle of wine when we first got here?" She pointed at me.

"Yeah, no, I hate myself on a daily basis." I smiled.

"What did I do?! Why won't anybody forgive me?!" Mikan yelled, looking close to pulling her hair out.

"Is acting like this your strategy now? Well, this is annoying." Nagito sighed. "Plus, to be honest, I've run out of ideas. How can we get you to admit it? That's the issue."

"Hey, Mikan. Can I ask you one last thing?" Chiaki spoke up calmly. "If you're not the killer, then who fabricated that video Hajime watched?"

"Like I said, it obviously wasn't me!" Mikan went back to sobbing.

"Can you prove it?" Chiaki asked.

"Prove it? Do you have any proof that I'm the one who fabricated the video?" She suddenly turned angry again. "Because you're just assuming the video was filmed in the conference room. You're treating me like a killer based on an assumption... just because I was at the hospital... That's totally crazy! I didn't do anything wrong! Why does everybody hate me?! Please, just forgive me already!"

"Girl's switching moods every few seconds. And that, kids, is why I take antipsychotics." I nodded to myself.

"You fucking what? You know what, never mind." Fuyuhiko sighed at me.

As Hajime pointed out the flaw in her argument, something else clicked in my head. Something not relating to the case.

We've been on this island for at least two weeks now... and I haven't taken a single one of my prescriptions. Not my antidepressant, not my antipsychotic, not my birth control, not my appetite booster. To be perfectly honest, I haven't even thought about my medicines because my mood has been fine. Also, I haven't even gotten my period... and I don't remember the last time I did get my period.

Why has my mood been stable if I haven't taken any pills?

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of laughter. I looked up from the spot I was staring at on the floor and saw Mikan laughing happily.

"This feeling... I know it well. Like the floor is collapsing. Like the sky is falling down on you... this feeling of despair!" She practically moaned.

We voted on Mikan, and Monokuma let us know we were right in choosing Mikan as the guilty killer. Then he began to explain. How Mikan caught the Despair Disease, how she remembered everything from our past at Hope's Peak. Mikan then explained how she did it all for her beloved.

"I... don't understand," Nagito said.

"You don't understand? You wouldn't do anything for Enko?" She hummed, stunning me silenced.

"Of course, I would!" Nagito snapped.

"Enko is the only one who loves you, the only one who accepts you. You'd do anything for her. You'd kill for her. You'd die for her. It's the same with me and my beloved." Mikan sighed and started to drool. "Love is truly a wonderful thing! This feeling of freedom where you no longer care about anything! My beloved and I are the only ones within that thin veil, and I'm just looking out through it... It's like nothing matters! I could just die, that's how little everything matters! Who cares about hope or despair! It's love, only love...!"

"Oh, shut her up already." I groaned, and Monokuma dragged her away.

"Hey," Nagito approached me. "I saw you tap out near the end of the trial. You okay?"

"I just... realized something important. I think I need to talk to Monokuma or Monomi about it. I don't know who would give me more information." I sighed, hanging my head.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" He asked softly, combing through my hair with his fingers.

"I don't know how you'll take it... It's probably better if I don't..." I shook my head.

"It's okay. I understand," He said and placed a kiss on my head.

Monokuma then mentioned a surprise on the first beach, and Akane guessed it was Nekomaru, and they all ran off, but I hung back as Monokuma complained about the rest not letting him finish talking.

"Oh, Enko. You're still here? What's up?" He walked over to me and Monomi squeaked at the sight of me watching them.

"I had a realization. I wanted to ask both of you about it." I said and sat down cross-legged on the ground.

"What's bothering ya, sweet cheeks?" Monokuma grinned.

"Don't call me that," I sighed. "Anyway, it was something I said during the trial. I said, 'that's why I take antipsychotics,' and it made me realize... I haven't taken a single pill on this island, and I've been here for about two weeks. Two weeks, I haven't taken one of my four prescriptions, and I'm perfectly okay. Now, doesn't that seem odd?" I tilted my head, and for once, they were oddly quiet. Uncharacteristically so.

"Is that so?" Monokuma hummed after a minute.

"Yeah. No depressive episodes, no mood swings, and, the weirdest part? No period." I stared at them. "I want answers as to why. Now."

"Sorry, sugar, no can do." Monokuma shook his head.

"You tell me what's really going on, or I might just let slip this little observation to everyone else." I threatened.

"Maybe you aren't as sick in the head as you thought," Monokuma said. "Maybe your depression was just a teenage phase."

"Oh, and the anger issues and mood swings I've had since I was four just disappeared? Sure." I nodded and heard him sigh.

"Look, I don't know what you want me to tell you, darling. I can't say nothing! Sworn to secrecy and yadda yadda, ya know?" Monokuma said.

"Monomi? You wanna give it a go?" I raised my eyebrow to her.

"I... there's definitely nothing you should worry about!" She waved her little hands around.

"Oh, but I am worried about it, you see." I sighed, then stood up. "Oh well. I guess I'll just see what the other girls think when I mention that I haven't gotten my period yet..."

"Have fun with that!" Monokuma snickered as I walked out, a scowl on my face.

So, I was onto something, huh?


	23. Chapter 23

I got up super early the next morning and was alone in the restaurant. There was food set out and waiting at five in the fucking morning, which I found suspicious, but I wanted to distract myself, so I went right to the kitchen to begin cooking with some things I got from the supermarket.

Also, since I was alone, I sang to myself to distract me even further.

" _You're all I think about, baby...! I was so stupid for letting you go, but I-I-I know you're still the one. You might have moved on, but girl you should know, that I-I-I know you're still the one. I know I'm saying too much! But I will never give up! I was so stupid for letting you go, but I-I-I know you're still the one...!_ " I sang and danced around a little as I whisked eggs together for an omelet.

"What are you doing?" Nagito came up behind me and held my hips, startling me.

"Geez, Nagito. Don't scare me like that." I chuckled and turned my head to give him a kiss.

"You certainly seem happier," He hummed and rested his head on my shoulder as I cooked the omelet.

"I'm just distracting myself," I smiled. "Want an omelet? They're kind of one of the only things I can make."

"I'd love one," Nagito nuzzled my neck.

"Okay. But if it's awful, you have to promise to tell me."

"It won't be awful. It already smells good." He hummed, his grip tightening around my waist.

I finished cooking and plated it up for him, and sipped on some coffee as I watched him take a bite. His eyebrows rose, and I grinned.

"It's shit, isn't it?"

"No, it's not bad at all." He shook his head. "It's very creamy, very gooey. I like it."

"You sure? Are you lying to me?" I teased, and he just held up a bite on his fork.

"Go on. Try it. Prove I'm lying to your face right now." He said, and I rolled my eyes and took the bite of omelet off his fork.

"Okay, it's not horrible." I shrugged and drank more coffee.

"So, did Monokuma or Monomi answer your questions yesterday?" He asked.

"Halfway," I hummed, and he gave me a confused look. "They basically answered my questions by refusing to answer them."

"Ah, gotcha." Nagito nodded. "You're still not going to tell me, huh?"

"I just don't want you to worry about it." I tapped my finger against the mug I held.

"If it's bothering you, I want to know." He insisted, standing up straight after dropping his empty plate in the sink.

"I can't," I looked away. "I'm sorry, I know it's not fair to shut you out like this... but it has to do with my past, and I just don't want you judging me too hard yet."

"Sweetie, you know I'd never judge you." Nagito took my hands in his. I just weakly nodded, knowing he wouldn't, but I just couldn't get over the feeling that he might see me differently.

I took my hands from Nagito and looped them around his neck, pulling him in close for a hug. His hands rested at my sides to just hold me, and I kept my face buried in his jacket.

A few minutes passed, and then we heard yelling from the other room, and we both looked to the doorway.

"Was that... Nekomaru?" I asked.

"Yeah. Oh, he's a robot now. Monokuma did something weird to him, now he's all metal. So, don't be freaked out when you see him." Nagito explained.

"Got it," I nodded. We linked hands and walked out together, and Nekomaru's laugh got louder.

"Uh oh! I hope you two weren't doing the dirty in there!" He grinned.

"...I was cooking." I said, giving him a strange look.

"You're here too, huh?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"I know my place and not speak out of turn when everyone's gathered like this. However, I want to talk about what happened yesterday." Nagito said.

"A lot happened yesterday," Hajime pointed out.

"That person Mikan called 'her beloved.' I can't help thinking about that and it won't get out of my head." He hummed.

"It crossed my mind as well, but based on how she phrased it, it was if she was speaking to an entity that does not exist in this world," Gundham said.

"You could've just said they've passed on." I rolled my eyes. "She was talking as if her beloved had died some time ago."

They then started talking about the Future Foundation and World Ender and just why we were on this island, and then onto the traitor.

Monomi soon butted in to reveal that the fourth island was free for us to explore. But then Kazuichi, Sonia, and Gundham started talking about not wanting to explore and giving valid reasons as to why, but I frowned.

"I wanna check it out..." I frowned a little, and Nagito immediately squeezed my hand.

"Then let's go." He said, and I looked over at him smiling softly at me.

"Yeah. What's stopping us?" I said and pulled him out of the restaurant before anyone could protest.

When we got to the island, my eyes lit up.

"Holy shit... it's a whole amusement park!" I beamed.

"How do they even have the funds for this?" Nagito murmured and let me pull him along to see everything we could see.

We first stopped by the Funhouse, where Hajime caught up with us.

"Rawr! Welcome to the Funhouse! With this train I'm conducting, I shall take you to the Funhouse, but only when all of you ride the train will I take you." Monokuma appeared to tell us, then disappeared again.

We next went to check out the roller coaster, but Monokuma said it was still under construction, so we decided to come back later.

There was also a castle that was mouse themed, and apparently, both Monokuma and Monomi can't handle mice. We went inside, and my eyes were immediately drawn to the spears on the wall.

"You could impale someone with those." I hummed and Nagito looked up at them with me. "Hey, Nagito, if you were gonna kill someone, you'd include me in your plan, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course." Nagito nodded. "Would you include me?"

"Of course, I would." I smiled and kissed his cheek. "Just checking."

"Careful. Cameras." Nagito chuckled, and I peeked up at the yellow camera.

"And what if I told you I didn't care?" I asked, holding onto his jacket.

"You're tempting me," He groaned back in his throat, and he started to back me up against the wall, our legs slotted together as I giggled, and his lips finally met mine.

I let my hands lace into his hair and pull on his shirt to get him closer, and I shivered when his hands met my hips and slipped under my shirt, raising it ever so slightly.

"Hey, there you two are!" Nekomaru called, and we both froze in place with wide eyes. "We're all waiting by the roller coaster. Monokuma says it's fixed now."

"We'll... we'll be there in a minute," I called and let my head fall against the wall. "I'm going to fucking die."

"What? Why?" Nagito asked as he tugged my shirt back down.

"No doubt Nekomaru's gonna tell everyone why we're taking so long." I rolled my eyes.

"Who cares? They're probably just jealous that someone like me got a girl like you." Nagito said and brushed my hair out of my face.

"Please. I think the only person who's actually jealous is Kazuichi." I said and started to walk out with him once we were fixed up again.

We arrived at the group right as Gundham said that some sort of entrance fee was the blood of a virgin, and he would use Sonia's.

"Oh, it appears my blood cannot be used then." Sonia frowned.

"MISS SONIA?!" Kazuichi screeched, and I just leaned over to Gundham.

"They do know that virgin blood just means blood that hasn't been used in a ritual before, right?" I hissed.

"It's not my fault people misunderstand the meaning." He shrugged.

"Virginity isn't even real," I sighed.

"Virginity isn't even real! You're right!" He nodded.

"I'm so glad that we could come to this agreement." I nodded. "Anyway, Monokuma, let's go."

It was a pretty intense ride, but I managed to not puke after we got off again, and Chiaki mentioned our prize, to which Monokuma brought out a file.

Nagito took the file and started to read through it, and I read over his shoulder.

"Hope's Peak Academy ironically became the site for the killing school life. The mastermind behind the plan locked the students inside the academy and forced them to kill each other. The students who were pushed to their limit eventually reached a state of heightened paranoia, and that's how the killing began. The killings committed by those students lasted several days, but at a certain point, the curtain suddenly fell. A group of students united and staged a counterattack against the mastermind, who paid with their life. With this, the six students who survived were able to escape the academy..."

"Hey, who's in that photo on the left?" Nagito squinted.

"Yo, that's Togami! What's he doing there?" I furrowed my brows, not understanding at all.

"It looks like the killings we're involved in resemble this set of killings that happened before... and that took place inside Hope's Peak Academy." Nagito sighed and closed the file.

"Well, the only thing I can say is... all the answers are in your school memories that were taken away!" Monokuma grinned.

We all then decided to check out the Funhouse, which I was hesitant about but decided to go along with anyway.


	24. Chapter 24

I was expecting the train ride to be like some sort of Willy Wonka nightmare, and it looks like I was right as the tunnel we were in filled with some sort of gas that made us all pass out.

When I woke up, I was in a red, pink, and white room decorated with strawberries and looked like an acid trip.

"Did Monokuma give us fucking acid? What the fuck?" I groaned as I sat up.

"No, this is real," Nagito told me and came to help me up. "I think this is the interior of the Funhouse."

"Welcome to Strawberry House!" Monokuma popped up, happy as could be, and I've never felt the urge to kick him be stronger.

"Is this the Funhouse?" Hajime asked.

"Strawberry House is a part of the Funhouse." Monokuma nodded. "There are three floors to Strawberry House! You are currently in an indoor park located on the third floor. Next is the second floor, and there's a lounge that perfect for freshening up, and I've prepared five guestrooms that are lined up like BOOM! The guestrooms are divided up by quality grade; the Deluxe Room is soundproof and has excellent air insulation, the Standard Room may have so-so insulation, but it's still pretty decent, and the Crummy Room has severe airflow and draft problems! Last but not least, the first floor of Strawberry House! On this floor, there's a room called the Final Dead Room, that's all like BOOM! You can enter the Final Dead Room at any time, but be extra cautious when you pick the difficulty setting. On the same floor, there's a hallway called Strawberry Hall, and when you pass through it, there's a truly strange, enormous tower standing tall with a BOOM BOOM! It's called Strawberry Tower!" Monokuma said, and I just blinked at his word choices.

"Any questions?" Monokuma then asked.

"Hell yeah, we have questions!" Kazuichi yelled.

"Yes, what are you planning to make us do this time?" Gundham asked.

"This is the motive!" Monokuma giggled. "An escape game!" He then burst into laughter.

"Escape game?" Hajime asked.

"The concept this time is a closed circle within a closed circle! There's only one way to get out, and I'll let you out when the next killing begins!" Monokuma said, then disappeared.

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Kazuichi screamed, startling me, and Nagito held my arms safely.

"We all knew this was a trap, but I never expected it to be so straightforward." Nagito sighed and rubbed my arms.

"For now, why don't we just look for an exit?" Chiaki said.

"Is there even an exit?" Nagito sighed.

"Yeah, we all heard Monokuma. It's a closed circle." I shrugged.

"What are you two giving up for?!" Fuyuhiko snapped at us. "If we were brought in here, there must be a way we can get out. You said it last trial, Enko. Doors open from both sides."

"Yeah," I smiled, realizing he was right. "I just... don't want our hopes to go down if we don't find anything."

"No way I'm letting that happen," Nagito assured me.

Chiaki suggested we look around with partners, and Sonia and Gundham left almost immediately. I took Nagito's hand and started to walk away, and Kazuichi grabbed my hand.

"Take me with you!" He whined.

"What? No. Why?" I pulled my hand back.

"He's trying to avoid Hajime," Nagito said in my ear.

"Ugh, don't be a dick." I turned away from Kazuichi. "And don't ever touch me ever again."

I left him in tears and didn't really care.

After a little while of searching for exits and optimal makeout spots, and I found nothing but makeout spots. Even when we headed over to Grape House, no one found any sign of an exit, only me finding makeout spots. Wow, where even is my head?

"Yo, how are you guys doing? Any questions so far?" Monokuma popped up as we were gathered in Grape House.

"Like, I'm starting to get hungry. Where's the food, anyway?" Akane asked.

"Is that necessary?" Monokuma asked, tilting his head.

"Of course, it is!" Akane's eyes widened.

"But it's supposed to be an escape game, so how can there be any tension if there's no time limit? So, I've decided to use your stomachs as the time limit!" He cackled, and my eyes widened as I realized what he was saying.

"You're going to starve us...?" I blinked in horror, not believing my ears.

"Yes! Kill someone before you starve to death!" He cackled even louder, then quieted. "Oh, but how about a little extra motive?" He said and walked up to me.

"What?" I asked, horrified.

"You, Enko, are especially worried about this motive, given everything about you and all. So, I'll tell you what. I'll trade you your secrets for food." Monokuma said with a grin.

"What?" My voice broke and I tried to ignore my face heating up.

"You just go ahead and tell them why your little heart's beating a mile a minute, and I'll let you have... hm... one meal a day. But only you." He nodded.

"No, that's not fair." I shook my head. "I see no upside to that, especially if it's just for me," I said, then regretted I said anything.

"Fine. Keep your secrets then. The offer is still on the table whenever you wanna cash in. I'll be listening." He said and disappeared, and I felt all the eyes in the room on me.

"Please," I begged. "Don't."

"You should've taken it!" Kazuichi said. "Some food is better than no food at all! What secret is so bad you'd starve yourself for?" He asked, and I couldn't help but burst into tears, covering my face with my hands.

"Oh..." He quieted down, and Nagito came over to comfort me.

"Not all secrets are equal, Kazuichi," Fuyuhiko spoke up. "Just because your secrets might not be dark doesn't mean everyone else's isn't either."

"You don't have to answer, but does it have to do with your thing about hospitals?" Nagito whispered, and I slowly nodded.

"Monokuma... I'll kill him for exploiting you like this." Nagito huffed.

"Monokuma..." I hummed, getting an idea. "I need to talk to him," I said and cleared my face, still sniffing, and walked off to one of the empty guest rooms, and locked the door behind me.

"Alright, come on, I wanna talk to you." I crossed my arms, and he popped up.

"Yeah? What's up?" He asked.

"That was a dirty fucking trick, Monokuma." I spat, and he seemed unfazed.

"Motive is motive for a reason, sweet cheeks." He shrugged. "Besides, I gave you a fair choice. You just tell them about your little issue, and I'll let slip a meal."

"Yeah, which issue would that be specifically?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Your ED," Monokuma grinned. "You know, why you always pick at your food like it disgusts you. Why you're always off to the bathroom in the middle of and after meals. Why you vomit when you get the slightest touch of anxiety. How you've managed this model figure for so long!" He laughed, and it just stung. It stung so bad.

"I could relapse! It took me months to get to this point, and you're ruining it all! Even just a few days could fuck me up for months, maybe even a year! Aren't you worried at all?!" I yelled as I teared up again.

Monokuma was silent for a bit, then groaned. "Look, once your little secret's out, I'm sure the others will be helping you with whatever you need... or they'll judge you so harshly you'll feel abandoned by your friends, your boyfriend, you'll be hated and alone, just like little old Monokuma, me!"

"EVIL LITTLE SHIT!" I screamed, and he let out a giggle and disappeared.

There was a gentle knock on the door, and Nagito spoke up.

"Sweetie, you okay? Can you let me in, please?" He asked, and I went over and unlocked the door just to pull him in and hug him tightly.

"Hey, you okay? What a question, you're obviously not okay." He sighed and hugged me back. "Wanna talk about it?"

"I just... I don't want everyone to hate me if I tell them... my secret." I sniffed as I cried into his jacket.

"Well, I definitely wouldn't hate you. You know that I'm here for you, and I just want you happy." He sighed and kissed my head a couple of times.

"Okay, look, Enko. We all decided on rooms, and we were going split them up between boys and girls, but I managed to convince everyone to let you stay with me. I got us a Deluxe Room in Strawberry House." He said and led me out of the room.

"How'd you do that?" I asked with a little smile.

"Rock, paper, scissors. Everyone seems to forget that I'm lucky." He shrugged, making me chuckle. We went over to Strawberry House and into one of the Deluxe rooms, where I immediately fell onto the bed and curled up. I reached my hand out to Nagito to join me, and he stripped off his jacket and lied beside me, wrapping his arms around me.

"You feeling better?" He asked softly.

"Yeah, now that I'm with you." I smiled and snuggled up closer to him. I pressed my ear to his chest and just listened to him breathe, hearing his breaths getting slower and deeper, and it lulled me right to sleep.


	25. Chapter 25

The next morning, I woke up curled up next to Nagito, and given the circumstances, I've never felt more comfortable. I just wanted to lie here with him all day, make it feel like there was nobody in the world but us.

"Are you awake?" Nagito whispered.

"Yeah," I hummed and peeked up at him before placing a kiss on his jaw.

"What was that for?" He smiled.

"Because I love you," I hummed and wrapped my arms even tighter around him.

"You love me?" He murmured, sounding shocked.

"Don't act so surprised." I chuckled and nuzzled my face into his chest. "I just wanna lay here with you all day..." I yawned and stretched out a little.

"If that makes you happy," Nagito hummed and kissed my hair.

So we lied there, just being close and sometimes pressing soft kisses to each other's skin or hair, and I closed my eyes and just began to wander throughout my mind.

My mind took a sudden turn of Nagito slipping his hand down my pants, of us with our shirts off, hands exploring bare, pale skin... I wanted to hear his little gasps and moans so badly...

I squeezed my legs together and found Nagito staring at me when I peeked at his face.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his hand trailing down my waist to my hip, and it practically set me on fire.

I reached up to bring his face to mine and gave him a kiss, and I didn't let him part from me for a while. Nagito seemed okay with it, so I decided to take it a step further and slowly slide my hand up his stomach, and I felt him jump, so I retracted.

"What are you doing?" He asked, sitting up, so I sat up, too.

"Sorry, I just wanted to touch you..." I bit my lip and blushed.

"You... wanted to touch trash like me?" He looked stunned.

"You're not trash. Shut up." I protested and saw him smile.

Nagito then took my hand and placed it on his chest, over his shirt. "You can touch me if you want." He said softly.

"I want your shirt off." I bit my lip, praying he was comfortable with it.

Nagito obliged me and slipped his shirt off, dropping it on the floor next to the bed. I leaned forward to kiss him again and let my hands slide around his shoulders and chest and arms, and I was delighted to hear his little surprised gasps.

"No one's... ever touched me there before..." He practically whimpered, and it was so cute.

"Do you want me to stop?" I asked softly.

"No, it feels good." He shook his head. "But I shouldn't be the only one feeling good. It's not fair to a goddess like you. Please, allow filth like me to touch you..." Nagito reached for my shirt, and I nodded. He peeled it off me, and his eyes widened at the sight of me in a bra.

"Beautiful," He sighed and leaned forward, starting to kiss at my neck, slowly going down my chest until his hands slid around my back and undid my bra. I let him keep going as his lips wrapped around my nipple, his fingers rubbing the other one.

I gasped and let out a soft moan, and Nagito moaned in response. His hands then greedily grabbed my waist to tug me closer as his lips went to the other nipple, and he sucked even harder on that one.

"N-Nagito!" I whined, throwing my head back.

"Please, sweetie, let me pleasure you. Do you want this?" He asked, and the feeling between my legs was already so uncomfortable, I had to nod my head frantically.

At my consent, he lied me down against the pillows and undid my jeans rather excitedly, and tugged them down along with my panties. Nagito moaned and spread my legs, and gave me no warning as he lowered himself down and licked right up my slit.

I moaned and trembled, watching him, and he caught my eye and gave me a smile, licking his lips.

"You taste... so erotic, Enko. You're so beautiful. Trash like me is so lucky to please you like this." He moaned.

"Nagito... please," I begged, raising my hips slightly, and he lowered his mouth back down to eat me out properly.

I closed my eyes and gripped his hair to pull him closer, feeling the warmth spread through me. I rolled my hips against his face and cried out when he finally made me come. I then pulled him back up to me and kissed him deeply as a thank you. All the while my hand slipped down and cupped him between his legs to feel the hardness there.

"Ah, you don't need to do anything." He pulled back to tell me.

"But you're hard," I blinked, not understanding. "It's my job to fix it."

"But it's my job to please you. I shouldn't dirty you with my filth. I'm nowhere near worthy of you pleasuring me..." He shook his head.

"But..." I frowned, not sure if he was seriously not consenting. "You don't want me to touch you?" I asked, just to be sure.

"I would love it if you did. I'm just not worthy of it." He sighed.

"Nagito, yes or no. Do you want me to suck your dick?" I stared at him, and he looked to be having a hard time with this.

"Yes..." He answered, and it made me smile.

"Okay. Lie down." I nodded and he flipped us, and I began working on his jeans and boxers until his length was released and standing proudly. I kneeled between his legs and stroked him just a little, watching his face as his jaw dropped in pleasure. Oh, he was so beautiful.

"Nagito, you know you don't need to feel ashamed about anything. I want you to feel pleasure, too." I said with a smile.

"But trash like me isn't worthy... oh!" He moaned as I suddenly licked around his tip, taking it into my mouth and swirling my tongue around. His hips bucked up in surprise, but I pinned them back down with one hand.

"I'm definitely not worthy of that..." Nagito panted. "God, your mouth around me... feels amazing, Enko. Why a goddess like you is treating me like this..."

He shut up for a little bit as I sucked on his tip, but became a moaning and panting mess once I took more of him into my mouth and began bobbing my head as I blew him.

"You're so beautiful. So amazing. Please, let me come! I know I don't deserve it, but please!" He whined, and I just found it so cute.

"You can come. I want you to come." I smiled softly and started working on his tip again, but harder this time. His hips bucked again and he filled my mouth with the bitter fluid, and I swallowed it quickly, looking up and seeing him stare at me with wide eyes.

"You... didn't have to swallow. Or do any of that, really." He said nervously as I crawled back up to him.

"My treat," I just smirked and tilted his face up before I gave him a sweet kiss.

Afterward, we lied together to regain our energy, and I was just thinking.

"I would've never have guessed you're a sub," I thought out loud.

"I'm what?" He looked over.

"A sub. Submissive." I said, turning to look at him.

"Oh. Is that a bad thing?"

"No, definitely not." I shook my head. "Everyone's different."

"Then what are you?" He asked.

"I'm a switch. I can dom or sub." I shrugged. "I sort of prefer dominating though, so I guess that makes us a good match." I smiled and combed through his hair a little.

"How can you tell I'm a sub?" He asked, brows furrowing.

"The way you begged for me to let you come? Classic sub shit." I nodded.

"How do you know you're a dom?" He asked then.

"I just mainly don't like being told what to do. I like being in control. But there are times when I'm just not in the mood to be in control when I want someone else to take the reins for me for a bit." I shrugged, then studied him a bit more.

"You also seem to have a praise and degradation kink going on." I hummed.

"Praise kink?" He questioned. "I knew about the degrading kink, but praise kink?"

"You calling me beautiful and a goddess and whatever." I pointed out.

"I always say that to you. You are beautiful and a goddess and amazing and..."

"I get it, Nagito." I chuckled and kissed him quickly to shut him up.

"Well, what about you? Your kinks?"

"I like the praise kink. Makes me feel special." I admitted.

"You got it." Nagito hummed and kissed me a little deeper, making me feel all sorts of butterflies and good things.


	26. Chapter 26

We got up and out of our room on the second day of this, and Monokuma immediately yelled at us two for missing his tai chi class the previous morning.

"Sorry. We were exercising." I said, making Nagito choke on a breath.

"Oh, I know what you two were up to," Monokuma growled. "You've got some balls, missy. Doing the do in a place like this."

"Hey, soundproof rooms are very tempting." I shrugged. It then only took one look over to see Kazuichi having a major nosebleed as he listened.

We ended up doing the Monokuma tai chi, which I put in the minimum effort for, and we all regrouped afterward.

"How is everybody doing?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"You mean other than hungry?" Akane asked, holding her stomach.

"Wow, Enko, you seem to be doing fine. What's your secret?" Monokuma teased, making me roll my eyes.

"As if,"

"No, he has a point." Akane's brows furrowed. "I haven't even heard your stomach growl once. You don't even seem bothered."

"I'm just... not hungry." I shrugged.

"Bullshit! You haven't eaten in two days! How can you not be hungry?" She asked, and I just rolled my eyes and looked away.

"I'm suspicious of you! I think Monokuma is sneaking you food!" She pointed her finger in my face, and I swatted her hand away.

"Pinky promise I'm not. Oh wait, I don't have pinkies." Monokuma giggled.

"He's not sneaking me food. I'm just not hungry." I insisted.

"Okay, but how?!" She pressed, and I was growing annoyed.

"I guess you can say I'm used to going without food for a while." I huffed an explanation.

"What are you, poor? I thought you were a beauty queen. Don't you make money off of those pageants and from modeling?" She shrugged.

"Akane..." Nekomaru reached for her.

"You know, I'd really rather not talk about this." I felt my mouth getting dry as I saw the looks the others were giving me, and it was making me super anxious. Fuck my anxious stomach.

"Well, I wanna know!" She pushed.

"I said no!" I snapped, staring at her. "Why can't you fucking take no for an answer?"

It was silent, and my stomach gave a sudden lurch, and I threw my hand over my mouth with wide eyes as I felt the acid in my throat.

"Bathroom. Now." Sonia stood and helped me over just in time for me to drop to my knees in front of the bowl and puke up the foamy yellow acid. Sonia held my hair back and rubbed my back and waited patiently as I rinsed my mouth out with water from the faucet.

"So? Did she have any food in her stomach?" Akane asked, and we all stared at her.

"You're still on that?" Fuyuhiko asked in disbelief.

"You can't tell me that you aren't curious!" She said, and he shut up quickly.

It was then that I noticed that everybody but Sonia and Nagito was looking away from me.

"So... you all suspect me, huh?" I frowned, gripping the hem of my shirt nervously.

"Well, Akane has a point. It's been two days. You can't just not be hungry." Soda said.

"It's better to just get it over with and tell us," Fuyuhiko said.

"No," I shook my head. "Then Monokuma will want to give me food, and I can't accept that while you all starve. It's not fair."

That made them look up in surprise.

"Oh. It's _that_ secret?" Fuyuhiko asked, and I nodded. "Damn,"

"Did you kill someone?" Akane asked, and my brows furrowed.

"No. Why?" I asked.

"Well, I don't think Monokuma will count it if we guess it." She shrugged.

"Why do you wanna know so badly?" I shook my head.

"Come on! The secrets of a model! How tempting is that?!" Akane laughed. "Like, when I first met you, Enko, I expected you to look nothing like your pictures. I expected them to be photoshopped to hell. But, they actually look like you. Sure, you don't look like you have pores in your pictures, and your teeth might be a little whiter, but that's like, all! So, I wanna know all your secrets! How are your eyelashes always so perfect? How is your eyeliner always even? What lipsticks do you use? What's your skincare routine? How do you maintain your perfect figure?" She said but stopped when she saw me tearing up.

I took a shaky breath and began to answer her questions.

"I use two mascaras. The first coat is for thickness, the second coat is to separate the lashes with a smaller spoolie. Eyeliner takes years of practice to perfect, but you just need to follow the geometry of your features. Kylie liquid lipsticks are the longest lasting I've ever tried. I use rose micellar water to wipe off my makeup, then I wipe my face down with warm water, then use a cleansing scrub, then moisturizer, and medicine. And I hardly have a 'perfect figure.' I have an eating disorder." I admitted and got silence in return, which made me chuckle.

"Yeah, the beauty queen with an eating disorder. How original." I rolled my eyes. "Had it since I was thirteen. Mom was so proud. Called me an attention seeker and everything. As if everything I do isn't already for attention." I hummed, folding my hands in front of me.

"So, two weeks before my first day at Hope's Peak, I collapsed on stage from malnutrition, and she took me to the hospital to admit me. I stayed there only about a week, but it was enough to make me never want to go back ever again." I pursed my lips.

"I'm... sorry. I had no idea..." Akane apologized softly.

"Nope. You didn't think and you just assumed I was selfish and going behind everyone's backs." I snapped, making her flinch back. "I'll keep that in mind," I said and went to Nagito's and my room.

Nagito was only a minute behind me, and when he came in, he took me into a tight hug.

"You know I'm here for you, right?" He asked, and I nodded into his shoulder. "Aren't... aren't you worried about Monokuma now?"

"No, not really." I shook my head.

"What? Why?" He pulled back, looking startled.

"Well, I may have told one little lie in all that," I said, and his expression changed.

"What lie?"

"I didn't lie about the eating disorder, that's totally real." I shook my head. "I didn't go to the hospital because I collapsed on stage."

"No?" His head tilted in confusion.

"No," I hummed. "I went because I wanted to kill myself."

His eyes widened and his grip tightened on my hips. I chucked and kept a calm face.

"Honestly, they would've kept me much longer than a week if they were treating me for an eating disorder. No, a week because I broke down and told my mom I was thinking about going into the shower to slit my wrists open. I admitted myself, of course, kept the whole thing under wraps. I just... disappeared for a week. It was nice, actually. Well, just the disappearing part was nice. The rest... not so much." I hummed in thought.

"Enko... you can't talk like that." Nagito breathed slowly. "I don't ever want to hear about you thinking that sort of stuff ever again. You're too special, too important."

"Says you." I rolled my eyes.

"And I know my opinion means shit to everyone. But you can't think that way. You just can't." He brought me into another hug, and I let him just get it out.

"Hey," I started softly. "You know I'm okay, right?" I asked, and felt him nod against me.

Then, to change the subject and take his mind off of this, I decided to try something out. I slowly walked forward until Nagito's back was against the wall, and he looked really confused.

"What are you doing?" He asked as I began to nibble at his jaw and neck.

"If I told you that I wanted your pants undone right now..." I murmured in his ear. I didn't even get to finish my sentence before his hands left me to quickly undo his button and zipper. "Good boy," I hummed and nipped his ear before licking over it.

Nagito shuddered as I slid down his body and onto my knees. "Is this really the right time?" He asked as I wrapped my hand around him and began to stroke him.

"Do you honestly care?" I looked up with a sly little smile.

"Well, no..." He shook his head, then cried out as I licked up his shaft and slipped his tip into my mouth.

It made me happy to see him writhe and cry out in front of me. He was a pretty loud moaner, and I found that I really liked it. The dom in me wanted to break him into little pieces, have him begging for me to please him, to do whatever I wanted with him, he'd accept anything I gave him, would follow anything I said. A perfect little sub.

Nagito's legs were already trembling, so I took him deeper into my mouth, but concentrated my tongue at his tip to finish him off. He thrust uncontrollably into my mouth, and finally calmed down after I had swallowed his whole load down and wiped my lips after. I did his pants back up as he just rested on the wall, breathing deeply.

"How do you feel?" I asked, playing softly with his hair.

"High," He smiled sleepily.

"Come on. Let's get you over to the bed. Rest up." I hummed and helped him walk over. "You need anything?"

"A kiss?" He asked shyly, and it made me smile.

"Right. How forgetful of me." I chuckled and leaned down, kissing him softly for a minute before parting, and he looked even higher than before.

"You drive me crazy," He sighed.

"Yeah, I bet I do," I said and kissed his hair before he passed out.

I didn't really want to go out and face the others, so I curled up next to Nagito and just got lost in my own thoughts.


	27. Chapter 27

A chime sounded the next morning, and both Nagito and I shot out of bed.

"A body has been discovered!" Monokuma said on the announcement.

I immediately grabbed my handbook and saw that a new Monokuma file had been added, and I flipped through it as I got out of bed.

"Who is it?" Nagito asked as he got up.

"Nekomaru... it looks like he's been smashed to bits." I frowned as we walked out and to the lounge where the other three were waiting.

"Hey, what's happening?" I asked as I took a seat.

"There's been a murder. And we can't get over to Grape House because the elevator's broken. Also, we're trying to reach them over there, but no one's picking up." Kazuichi explained.

"Also, Monokuma brought us some food. Eat up. We saved yours." Fuyuhiko said as he held the phone, pushing us two loaves of red bean bread and two jugs of milk.

"Anyone want my milk?" I asked, pushing it away, and they gave me a weird look. "Lactose intolerant. I'd rather not have a stomachache, thanks."

"Oh, finally you pick up!" Fuyuhiko snapped into the phone, and we all paid attention. "Geez, do you know how long the phone was ringing? I was getting worried that no one would pick up... Even if we wanted to go over there, we can't. Looks like someone broke the damn elevator. It's not moving at all. And we can't enter the tower from Strawberry Hall because the door button there is broken, too. So basically, we're sitting ducks here."

"Hey, are you even listening?" Fuyuhiko then snapped at whoever was on the other line. "Yeah, we're safe, but, we can't find Nekomaru anywhere. Know anything...? Dammit, so that's what it was? Shit! Why Nekomaru? He just came back to us!"

Fuyuhiko then went on about how the killer broke both the elevator and the Strawberry Tower door to stop us from doing a proper investigation, and how Kazuichi was going to try to work on the elevator. He then hung up, and I pursed my lips, now not knowing what to do.

"Hey, bastard! Are you even listening?" Fuyuhiko snapped, and I narrowed my eyes. "Nagito. I'm talking to Nagito." He assured me.

"Shouldn't be talking to anyone that way," I crossed my arms.

"Sorry, I was just thinking." Nagito smiled.

"You were probably thinking something messed up, weren't you?" He said, and Nagito's cheeks went faint pink.

"Man, I hope so." I sighed, and Fuyuhiko gave me a weird look.

Nagito then leaned over and began to murmur in my ear. "I have an idea. We need to get away from the others first, though."

I nodded slowly, staring at the table. "Gotcha," I agreed.

I had an idea of what Nagito was thinking, and I think I was ready to face whatever as long as he wanted me there with him.

They all started talking about a rumbling sound and loud ringing at about five-thirty that morning, which Nagito and I were just confused about.

"You two look like you have no idea what we're talking about," Fuyuhiko said.

"Because... we don't?" I said. "I didn't hear shit, and he was passed the fuck out," I said, pointing at Nagito.

"How do you know? Weren't you asleep, too?" Fuyuhiko questioned.

"Well, I'm the one who knocked him out," I said plainly.

"How the fuck..." He started, then saw me smirking. "Oh. Gross." He then understood, and Kazuichi had wide eyes.

Nagito was just smiling happily, looking clueless. God, I loved him.

We ended up sneaking away as Kazuichi went to work on the elevator (finally), and Nagito led me to the Final Dead Room.

"You're sure about this?" I asked before he even placed his hand on the door.

"Yeah," He nodded, and I nodded, too.

"Okay. I trust you." I breathed and stayed close as he opened it and went inside.

The room was made of stone and looked filthy, and there was stuff written on the walls in what looked like blood... maybe. There was a loud clicking sound, and I looked behind us.

"I think the door just locked..." I hummed to Nagito.

"The game is going to start soon." He hummed and took my hand. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." I nodded.

I looked around the room at all the blood and saw a three, four, nine, and seven. In the closet, there was a number five written in blood. There was also a 'watch the NEWS' written on one wall above a keypad.

"'Watch the news'?" I questioned.

"It's code. A pretty common one, too, actually." Nagito nodded. "I'll explain later." He said and went over to the keypad and typed in three nine four seven, and it opened to reveal a camera and a USB.

Next, he went to the bed and got on the ground.

"You think there's something under there?" I asked.

"Yeah, there's something shiny. Can you hand me the hanger in the closet?" He asked and I went over and got it for him, and voila, he pulled out a key.

I went over to check the desk drawers and found one was locked, one had a pair of pliers, and one had a little card on it that said Uncompress Password and had what looked to be code on it.

"Here," Nagito moved over and used the key he got on the locked desk drawer and got a pair of scissors.

"The plush!" I smiled at realizing what the scissors were for. "There's probably something in the plush."

"You're probably right," Nagito kissed my forehead before he cut it open, and we found batteries inside. Batteries that go to the digital camera we found, which, when we checked it, had a picture of the solar system on it.

"Oh, S.M.V.E.M.J.S! The planets, not the days of the week." I nodded slowly as I understood. We typed it into the laptop after turning it on with the USB and got yet another code.

"That looks like it matches the flashing lights on the panel..." I hummed and Nagito went to study them, and we got the second password of nine eight seven five. With the password, the panel on the other wall opened to reveal a key slot.

"Well, we got two keys. One of them should work, right?" I hummed, so Nagito tried the USB key, and it worked.

The bars that kept the door with the gun on it lifted, and a panel on the floor lifted to show a stand with a revolver on it, and I suddenly understood what the real game was.

"Oh," I breathed.

"What? What is it?" Nagito asked.

"This is the real game. Russian roulette." I nodded to the gun.

"I've never understood Russian roulette. How do you play?" Nagito asked.

"You put a bullet in the cylinder, then you spin it... like this..." I picked up the gun and spun the section holding the bullets. "Then you hold it to your head and shoot."

"Oh, a perfect game for me, then." Nagito nodded and took the gun from me.

"What do you mean?" My brows furrowed.

"Well, there are six bullet spaces. There's a one in six chance I could die. And hey, aren't taking chances kind of my thing?" He shrugged as he took only one bullet out, not five. He then spun it and held it up to his head.

"You're sure about this?" I watched, feeling helpless.

"Don't doubt my luck." He smiled, then pulled the trigger. There was a faint click, and there was no blood or brains flying from his head, so I let out the breath I was holding.

The door unlocked, and I took his hand and held it tight as we walked through the door.

"Hey, I'm okay." Nagito turned to me and held my face in his free hand to assure me. "See? I'm right here. Not bleeding or anything."

"I know, I just..." I shook the thought from my head. "It just scared me a little. But I'm fine now." I nodded, and he brought me into a hug.

"I'm sorry for scaring you." He murmured and kissed my head, which did actually make me feel better.

"Congratulations, Nagito! And you even challenged yourself at the highest difficulty with only a one-sixth chance of success! I have a modest present for someone like you!" He said and handed Nagito two files, who still held onto me.

"What are these?" Nagito asked.

"Looks like... Future Foundation and Hope's Peak." I hummed. "This one must be our student files." I tapped Hope's Peak's cover.

I then looked at Monokuma. "We can keep these?"

"You want to keep them?" Nagito looked at me.

"I want to study them, yeah." I nodded.

"Okay, yeah." Nagito nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't care. Keep 'em if you want 'em." He shrugged and then left, so I plopped down onto the floor right there and began to read.

"Right here?" Nagito looked around at all the weapons.

"Yeah. Can't get more private than this." I shrugged. "Besides, I think we're in agreement that we don't want anyone else seeing these files. At least, not yet."

"Oh, definitely. Hey, can you find Hajime's first? I'm dying to know what his talent is." He sat beside me, and I flicked through until I found it.

"He's..." I read a little bit, then paused.

"What?" Nagito asked, putting his head on my shoulder.

"He wasn't even in our class." I frowned. "We were all in the same class, but Hajime... he was from the reserve course. He didn't have an Ultimate talent." I reread it just to make sure I read that right.

"Then why's he here with us now? What makes him so special?" Nagito huffed.

"Even more... he was expelled..." I gasped softly.

"Expelled?! Then there's no way he should be here! We weren't expelled too, were we?" He asked, and I flipped through everyone's pictures.

"No, we all graduated..." I smiled softly down at a picture of Nagito. "Aw! You look so young, Nagito!"

"What? Lemme see!" He looked over and smiled.

"Your hair is more brown than white, though..." I hummed and combed my fingers through his fluffy hair.

"Well, let's see you, then." He said and flipped to my pages. "Oh my God. You're... adorable."

I looked down and saw I looked a lot younger than I did right now. My hair was shorter, only shoulder length or so, and I only had one set of earrings in, not two.

"Talk about looking young..." He chuckled. "You look about fourteen!"

"Shut up! You're embarrassing me!" I huffed and looked away.

"You do look younger without makeup, though." Nagito hummed and traced my cheek. "You're so cute," He sighed before kissing me.

"I can't wait till we get our memories back." I sighed against his lips and heard him chuckle.

"Okay," I hummed once we parted, and I closed the file. "How do you feel about exploring the room? I saw some knives I wanna steal."

"Go for it," He smiled and I got up and began checking out each one carefully, pocketing the one I liked the most.

And then... Nagito found the window.


	28. Chapter 28

I then understood the building's true structure, and we dropped down the trap door to the third floor of Grape House, and eventually found Hajime and Chiaki in the lounge.

"Where did you two come from?" Hajime exclaimed.

"We teleported," I smiled.

Nagito then went on to tell him that we cleared the Final Dead Room, and now we have unrestricted access between Strawberry and Grape House.

"That doesn't answer how you got over here," Hajime said.

"You need to stay quiet," Nagito then turned serious. "You've been repeating yourself over and over and it's bugging me. Can you let me speak freely for a change?"

Nagito went onto explain the similarities between the murders that happened at the first killing school life and this killing school trip, and how the fourth murder in the first killing school life was ruled as a suicide, so there's a chance that Nekomaru's murder might actually be a suicide.

"You're serious? You're not trying to confuse us?" Hajime asked.

"Geez, your complaints just never end, do they?" Nagito sneered at him, and I didn't do a damn thing to stop it.

"If you're gonna talk like that, I won't want to tell you any more. And I even learned what your talent is, too..." Nagito hummed.

"Huh? Really?" He perked up.

"Yeah, we also got a file on our school profiles as well..." I hummed, looking down at the thick file in my hands.

"I always thought it was odd that Hajime couldn't remember his talent, but now it makes sense." Nagito chuckled.

"Why? How? What is it?" Hajime scrambled.

"To put it simply, you don't have a talent." I shook my head, and the room fell dead silent.

"You're just a reserve course student from the reserve department." Nagito smiled. "There's the main course for students with Ultimate talents, and then there's the reserve department for students who entered the school through a basic entrance exam."

"Reserve course...?" Hajime muttered.

"Yeah, Nagito and I thought it was weird, too. But there's more!" I grinned and gripped the book even tighter. "Can I tell him?"

"Yeah," Nagito nodded.

"You never even graduated from Hope's Peak! You got expelled!" I smirked.

"Both of you, stop!" Chiaki said sternly, and we looked over at her. "You're just being cruel now."

"Well, maybe he should've been a little nicer to Nagito before assuming he was actually worth something," I said and shot a look towards Hajime, who looked completely broken down.

"Come on, we have to look at the scene before the trial starts." I took Nagito's hand and led him away.

It was around that time that Kazuichi fixed the elevator, and now the rest of the guys were over at Grape House. We stopped to talk to them, and Nagito let out a little snark to Kazuichi when he got questioned, and I ended up pulling Nagito away.

"Does he seem a little pissed to you guys...?" Kazuichi asked, and I smirked.

"Something you wanna talk about?" I asked as I took Nagito's arm.

"I guess I just expected more, that's all. This whole thing is pretty disappointing." He sighed, and I placed a kiss onto his cheek.

"Cheer up. We'll have this thing solved in no time. Then we'll be let out and going to our own cottages..." I hummed.

"You think?"

"I know." I smiled, and it made him a little more hopeful.

We walked into Grape Tower and Nagito immediately told Kazuichi to disassemble Nekomaru's body as a sort of robotic autopsy. Akane was against it, obviously, but he laid down some snark on her to shut her up and get through with it.

"He's gotten rude lately, huh?" Fuyuhiko muttered to me.

"I actually think it's kind of hot," I muttered back.

"Is he saying any of this shit to you?" Fuyuhiko asked, and I laughed quietly behind my hand.

"No way. He knows if he even tries, I'll make him regret it." I smiled, eyeing Nagito, who was watching me.

"Are you talking about me?" He tilted his head.

"Oh, definitely." I smiled, and Fuyuhiko looked at me like I was crazy.

"Oh, really? What were you saying?" He came over to me.

"Oh, you know, the usual stuff..." I hummed, scanning him up and down. "Like what'll happen once we get out of this place."

"We definitely weren't talking about that!" Fuyuhiko exclaimed.

"Oh. Well, I was." I shrugged.

Monokuma soon called for the class trial to begin, and a giant stone Monokuma head popped up from the floor with an open mouth. I shrugged and went on in and stepped into the elevator, waiting for Nagito.

When we finally got down to the courtroom, I looked around, pretty impressed at the newest design Monokuma made. It was all neon and seemed to fit a sort of circus theme.

"This is my aesthetic." I nodded slowly. "Hey, Monokuma? If I asked you to make my cottage like this room, would you do it?"

"Are you serious?" Kazuichi stared at me.

"What? I like it." I shrugged.

"Are you shitting me?" Monokuma glared at me.

"Huh? No way, not at all. I really like clowns and like, circus themes and stuff. The crazier, the better." I smiled.

"I'm beginning to think you just like crazy things," Fuyuhiko said and gave a pointed look to Nagito, who was also looking around in awe.

"That's just a fun little bonus." I smiled.

"Before we start this trial, can I ask you something personal?" Kazuichi said, and I tilted my head. "Why are you dating him? Really."

"Oh, his money," I answered, and the room fell silent. "Oh wait... or is it his eleven-inch penis? No, wait! It's because, when we get married and I get put in the will, he's going to die under mysterious circumstances, and the cops will come to the house, and I'll be in a chiffon robe with a glass of wine and Lana Del Rey playing in the background, and I'll cry and cry, and one cop will get me more wine, and I'm just so sad about my husband's peculiar death... but I guess I just have to inherit the mansion and all that money..." I put on a voice, then straightened out again.

"Which was it again, Nagito?" I asked, tilting my head as I looked over at him, and he was smirking.

"Pretty sure it's my eleven-inch penis." He nodded.

"Right. Yeah. His dick." I nodded in agreement, snapping my fingers. "Literally the size of my forearm."

"...you're fucking with me, aren't you?" Kazuichi asked.

"Well, duh." I rolled my eyes. "It's none of your fucking business, that's why. You're just pressed because he got a girl before you did, and it's obviously clear why. You're a stinky little pervert who obviously can't take no for an answer, which is lowkey rape culture, and it's actually disgusting how you won't leave the girls, or one particular girl, here alone. I still remember how you basically invited yourself to our girl's day out at the beach and dragged Hajime with you so you wouldn't look like a desperate creep all on your own. You know we pity you, right? And we think you're actually disgusting?" I raised my eyebrows and stared him down.

I don't even know why I kept going, tearing him to shreds in front of everyone like this. I just couldn't seem to stop it. I stopped there and bit my bottom lip, wondering if I had gone too far.

"You're... so mean..." He whimpered.

"Suck it up!" I huffed. "We have a class trial to do."

"What's gotten into you and Nagito?" Fuyuhiko demanded.

"Huh?" I asked.

"You're both acting weird. Not like yourselves at all." He said.

"Is this Despair Disease again?" Hajime looked to Monokuma.

"Nope, not my doing. I don't really have any idea, but man, it's interesting!" He cackled.

"Now, shall we get this show on the road?"


	29. Chapter 29

"Hey, why don't we try going over the incident?" Fuyuhiko started when everything had calmed down. "We weren't able to leave Strawberry House, so I want to make sure we get a detailed understanding..."

"Um, I discovered Nekomaru's body a little before seven this morning. I headed over to Grape Tower for Monokuma Tai Chi and found the body there. Hajime and Chiaki were also with me." Sonia spoke up.

"Hajime was... with Miss Sonia and Chiaki that early in the morning?" Kazuichi gasped. "Don't tell me you three have been together since last night?!"

"Imbecile! I am not some woman with flexible legs!" Sonia exclaimed at him, which had me widening my eyes real fast.

"Bitch..." It slipped out of my mouth and Sonia looked at me, knowing exactly what I was referring to.

"Shut it, Enko." She said with a smile.

"What?" Kazuichi sounded wounded.

"The details girls share with each other... hmm." I just hummed to wound him further. "We don't slut-shame on this island, Kazuichi, and virginity isn't real. Say it with me."

"Virginity isn't real!" Both Gundham and Sonia agreed.

"Thank you," I nodded.

"What just happened?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"I'm starting a cult with Gundham and Sonia, and it believes in all the rights. Equal rights, trans rights, gay rights, any rights." I nodded, coming up with that on the spot.

"Anyway..." Hajime gave me a look. "We just happened to run into each other on the first floor of Grape House, and went to the tower together."

"And then the three of us discovered Nekomaru's body." Sonia nodded solemnly.

"The body discovery announcement was made soon after. Akane heard that and rushed over." Chiaki chimed in.

"We heard the body discovery announcement, too. From Strawberry House, obviously." Fuyuhiko said.

"Yeah, and I seemed to be the only one that had enough sense to check the handbook to see who had been killed." I rolled my eyes.

"We didn't know if it had updated yet!" Kazuichi argued.

"It literally vibrates when it updates! You should know this!" I argued back.

"Anyway, the elevator was broken, so we decided to try for Strawberry Tower, but when we got to Strawberry Hall, the door button was broken, too." Fuyuhiko went on to say.

"Thinking we should find some method to communicate, we set our sights on the lounge telephone," Gundham said.

"Forget the boring intros! We need to talk about the killer. Anyway, it's definitely someone from Strawberry House." Akane said, and I found myself agreeing, but not saying it out loud just yet.

"What do you mean, 'definitely'?" Kazuichi exclaimed.

"There's no way a chick would kill someone so cruelly... So it must be one of you Strawberry House dudes."

That's not the angle I would've gone with, but okay.

"Enough! We need to stop wasting time. The case this time has a lot of questions that need answers." Chiaki said.

"The case isn't alone. I, too, have questions." Sonia looked troubled.

"Then let's start with something even Miss Sonia can understand: the weapon." Kazuichi grinned.

"Huh?" Nagito's eyebrow rose.

"Well, the weapon is obvious, right...?"

"Huh?" Nagito just blinked again, staring at him.

"What the heck, you guys? The weapon... you can totally tell just by looking..." He said.

"No...?" I disagreed.

"The hammer! The killer totally used to hammer to beat up Nekomaru! What don't you guys get about it?!" He looked frustrated.

"Well, considering there was the oil or whatever all around Nekomaru's head, and the hammer was spotless..." I hummed.

"Well, the killer could've wiped off the oil later..." He said, now sounding less sure.

"Why?" Chiaki asked.

"Well, obviously to not make it look like the murder weapon..."

"But he'd still leave the hammer there?" I questioned, and he fell back. "Give up, Kazuichi."

"Okay..." He whimpered.

"So, let's look at it from a different angle. Whatever has oil on it must be the weapon, right? So, what had oil on it?" Chiaki hummed.

"The only thing that had oil on it was the broken pillar..." Hajime said.

"Then the pillar is the weapon! Coach Nekomaru got clobbered with the pillar!" Akane shouted.

"Okay, I'm not totally disagreeing with you, but, who the fuck has the strength to lift a pillar and hit someone with it?" I stared at her, and she quieted down.

"I guess you're right..." She sighed.

"Why are you so hung up on the freakin' pillar?" Kazuichi asked.

"I just know that Nekomaru was killed by that pillar. I have a gut feeling." Akane nodded.

"That's just your instinct." Kazuichi brushed her off.

"But we can't say for sure that that instinct is wrong, can we?" Nagito spoke up.

"Yeah," I agreed with a nod. "The pillar was most likely the murder weapon."

"What are you two talking about?" Hajime asked.

"There's another way to use that pillar to kill. You guys just haven't noticed it yet." Nagito nodded.

"Then, pray tell, what is this other method?" Gundham asked.

Nagito sighed. "You guys are the same as usual. You're unable to clear a path to the future with your own powers, so you just stand there and falter. What a waste of talent! And you all intend to fight the Future Foundation? You make me laugh! Regardless, it's not like I want to die with the rest of you, so I guess I'll lend a hand."

"Hey, what the hell happened to the two of you?" Fuyuhiko asked, looking between me and Nagito. "You're not talking like a lunatic anymore, now you're just overdramatic. And now Enko is... really mean."

"I've learned a valuable lesson: ignorance is by far the greatest shame." Nagito stared him down.

"What does that mean?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Who cares? Just tell us how the pillar was used to kill!" Akane demanded.

"Well, it's kind of a long story..." I sighed.

"Yeah. First of all, the pillar itself isn't enough. But when combined with a specific item, it's enough." Nagito nodded.

"A specific item?" Gundham asked.

"Of course. The Ultimate Weapon." Nagito said as if it were obvious, and it made me smile a little at how cute he was when he got into these class trials.

"Isn't that the thing you get when you clear the Final Dead Room?" Kazuichi asked.

"Yeah, Nagito and I cleared it as part of our investigation. We think the killer cleared it, found out what it was, and used it to kill Nekomaru." I explained.

"You've all seen it at this point," Nagito shrugged.

"We have?" Hajime asked.

"That's right, you have! For I am he who cuts the insolent catalyst which flows out from the chaos with the sword of victory! It's only fitting that I deserve to be called the Ultimate Weapon!" Gundham exclaimed.

I just gave a blank look over to Nagito. "Gundham's the killer, confirmed."

"Probably," He shrugged.

"Cut the bullshit. What's the Ultimate Weapon?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"In order to clarify that, we first need to solve the secret of the Funhouse." Nagito beamed widely.

"The secret of the Funhouse?" Akane asked.

"Geez, get it together! You're supposed to be the Symbols of Hope." Nagito groaned.

"Except for Hajime," I hissed.

"Yes, except for Hajime, of course." Nagito nodded.

"Except for Hajime?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Doesn't matter right now, we'll tell ya later." I waved it off.

"Does it have to do with the structure of the Funhouse?" Sonia asked, and we both nodded. "Oh, so you two have figured it out?"

"Oh, definitely." I nodded.

"So, Strawberry House leads to Strawberry Tower, and Grape House leads to Grape Tower. But in actuality, the two are the same building joined together by a central tower." Sonia explained.

"Yeah, no." I shook my head, and they looked shocked.

"When we went to Grape Tower from Grape Hall, Nekomaru's body was in front of the door to Strawberry Hall. But when we went to Strawberry Tower from Strawberry Hall, his body was in front of the door to Grape Hall." Hajime thought out loud.

"It's probably some kind of trick, like... the floor rotating a hundred and eighty degrees or something." Kazuichi hummed.

"If so, then what? Do you seriously think such a simple answer is the correct answer?" Nagito asked.

"Does that mean he's wrong?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Oops, I've said too much." Nagito just smirked, and man, I wanted to jump him right there just because of that face.

"If the floor didn't rotate, that means we need to think about the structure of the building again..." Hajime sighed.

"Then how about this? Somebody moved Nekomaru's body." Sonia argued.

"And a whole ass pillar?" My eyebrows rose.

"Not to mention the oil spill on the floor? How are you going to move an oil spill?" Hajime asked, and she stopped and just stared.

"So does this mean that the two towers aren't the same building?" Akane asked.

"Not necessarily," Chiaki hummed.

"Well, if they're not the same building or two different buildings, what are they?" Kazuichi asked.

"Hey, Nagito? Enko?"

"I thought it would come to this." Nagito smiled.

"Yo, y'all need help?" I asked, leaning on the wood.

"A little," Hajime admitted, and I looked over to Nagito.

"Fine, I'll give you a hint."

"Give us the answer, not a fuckin' hint!" Kazuichi frowned.

"Then it wouldn't mean anything!" Nagito said.

"Yeah, what would you learn if we just gave you all the answers?" I shrugged. As I spoke, Nagito took out the camera which he took the picture from out the window on and passed it around, explaining how he got the photo from the Final Dead Room.

"Look closely now. If I have to explain anything else, I'll hit someone." I sighed.

"I took this picture on the first floor of Strawberry House, from the secret room within the Final Dead Room," Nagito said.

"This should've been taken on the first floor of Strawberry House, right?" Hajime asked.

"Should've been, yeah." Nagito nodded slowly.

"Then this is definitely strange..." Hajime hummed.

"I'm going to fucking kill myself," I muttered and stretched my back out a little.

"This photo couldn't have been taken from the first floor. Since we see the treetops, it must have been taken from higher up." Hajime explained.

"That it?" Nagito and I asked at the same time, startling everyone.

"Well..." Hajime started. "Based on our original idea of how the Funhouse is structured, Grape House should be behind Strawberry and Grape Tower, which connects them in the middle. But there's nothing behind the tower here."

"Oh my God, he actually got it." I hummed in a monotone voice.

"Good call, for a talentless high school student." Nagito chuckled, and Hajime just looked so done with us both, making me proud.


	30. Chapter 30

Once we covered that Strawberry and Grape House were just different floors of the same building, then we could finally fucking move on.

At least, I thought we could move on, but then dumbass Kazuichi brought up the idea of a fake body.

I was hitting my head against the wood of the stand at this point.

"I'm going to fucking kill myself." I was close to crying in frustration at this point.

"No, don't." Nagito just gave me a smile.

' _They're so stupid!_ ' I mouthed to him, and he just nodded solemnly.

"The inside of the tower is one big elevator!" Hajime exclaimed suddenly, and I lifted my head.

"Fucking finally!" I sighed. "That took way too goddamn long."

"Well, if you had just told us the answer..." Kazuichi said.

"Don't you even start with that." I snapped. "Anyway, can we move on now?"

"I have an issue with this new development," Gundham spoke up, and then explained how the structure of a building made sense when the contact elevator came into play.

I let my head drop back down onto the wood as they argued this out for another five minutes.

When they finally settled on a diagonal elevator, I begged that we could finally move onto the interesting things.

"So, now we can move onto the important things, right? Like what is the Ultimate Weapon, and how did the killer combine it with the pillar to kill Nekomaru?" Akane asked.

"Huh? You still don't know what the Ultimate Weapon is? It's what I found at the Octagon, you know." Nagito said.

"What is the Octagon?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Oh my God... I can't believe I have to explain that now." Nagito sighed, and I deeply rolled my eyes.

"Can I just fucking tell them?" I sighed.

"If you want," Nagito shrugged.

"The building's structure is the Ultimate Weapon, idiots!" I said, and they still seemed confused.

Nagito just laughed. "It truly deserves to be called the Ultimate Weapon! Such a spectacular crime!"

"But can we really believe that? I mean, Nagito said it, ya know?" Kazuichi hummed.

"Technically, I said it." I raised my hand.

"Yeah, but you're fucking Nagito!" He pointed. "I don't trust either of you!"

"There's no way I'd lie at such an important moment. I don't want to die, either." Nagito shrugged.

I was about to disagree and say I did want to die, but I only knew that would give me strange looks, so I just kept quiet.

"What happened to the bastard who kept saying how much they didn't mind dying?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Ah, you're right. There was a time when I thought I could become a stepping stone for your hopes, but, I will sincerely retract that remark." He nodded. "I'm disappointed too, you know. If this was a murder for the sake of hope, I'd happily sacrifice myself."

"You say such falsehoods, as usual. There is no such thing as murder for the sake of hope. Murder is simply murder." Gundham disagreed. "Forcibly sacrificing others for one's own desires! Even one as diabolical as I would avoid such actions!"

"I see..." Nagito said slowly and glanced at me.

"Gundham is the killer, confirmed." I nodded.

"Yeah, most likely." Nagito nodded in agreement.

"Hey, it might be better if we clarify the cause of death first, don't you think?" Chiaki spoke up.

"I see... I think he died from falling." Hajime spoke up.

"Ooh, take it away, Hajime." I nodded to listen, encouraging him to keep going.

"If the Funhouse's secret is that it's a structure where both towers and houses are vertically connected, then the killer made use of its height and caused Nekomaru to die from falling."

"Saying he died from falling is truly incorrect!" Gundham laughed. "You should burn in the flames of hell!"

"Gundham is the killer, confirmed," I muttered to myself.

"When are you going to stop saying that?" Sonia sighed.

"When it's proven." I hummed.

Hajime then talked through how Nekomaru must have been in sleep mode, then the killer tied him to the doorknob and used the elevator/floor to make him fall. Kazuichi argued a bit, and Sonia tried to shut him up until Hajime proved him wrong.

"You understand now?" Hajime asked.

"Yeah, it's just as Miss Sonia said... I'm a pest. No, I'm a fucking pig..." He sighed. "Right, Miss Sonia?!" He then perked up.

"No, you tried your best." She smiled softly.

"Why aren't you teasing me anymore?" Kazuichi whined, and I was ready to split my fucking head open.

"Do you really get off on this?" Fuyuhiko looked disturbed.

"We can talk about kinks some other time..." I groaned. "Anyway, when Nekomaru fell, he collided with the pillar on the way down."

"Finally, the pillar!" Akane got hyped up. "I knew it! My gut was totally right!"

"Yeah, but it was probably just a bonus. The killer probably wasn't planning for that to happen." Nagito hummed.

"At this point, it is quite difficult to find a clue that will lead to the killer..." Sonia hummed.

"Then, what about the alarm?" Fuyuhiko asked, and I raised my head again and snapped my fingers.

"You're right! The alarm! I totally forgot about that!" My face split into a wide smile.

They then discussed how it was impossible that three of them got to the tower at seven in the morning and found Nekomaru's body, but his alarm was stopped at seven-thirty in the morning. Hajime then explained how Nekomaru's clock couldn't have been messed with, since it was a radio clock, so it must've been the other clocks that were messed with. Nagito was pleased that Fuyuhiko actually listened to him and checked the clocks, and we discovered the keynote of the rumbling sound that some of us heard, but some didn't.

"Oh, well, that sound that everyone heard... I did not hear it at all." Sonia admitted.

"I... didn't hear it either," Chiaki admitted.

"Yeah, Nagito and I didn't hear it either," I smirked, piecing this together.

"Okay, you can stop with the face! We all know you and Nagito have amazing sex!" Kazuichi cried.

"But that doesn't explain why Sonia and Chiaki didn't hear the sound either." Nagito hummed.

"Fucking think about it. What do the four of us have in common?" I asked.

"You're... not virgins?" Kazuichi tried.

"Wow, you're fucking dumb. And insensitive. And I thought we already discussed that virginity isn't real? It's an abstract construct designed to belittle women." I said, pleased as he shrunk back at my words.

"The four of you had Deluxe rooms." Hajime suddenly said.

"Right. But what's wrong with that?" I smirked, my eyes on him now.

"There should have been... five of us staying in Deluxe Rooms." Sonia's eyes widened as she understood.

"Yeah... me, Sonia, and Nagito and Enko were staying together... so..." Chiaki listed, then we all looked at Gundham.

"What's your excuse, Gundham? You said you heard the noise, right?"

"I... did." He admitted.

"And you shouldn't have if you were in your room. So, what were you doing out of your room?" I asked, drumming my fingers on my cheek in curiosity.

"What do you mean I shouldn't have heard it?" Gundham asked.

"The Deluxe rooms are soundproof, dummy." I rolled my eyes with a smile. "If not, everyone would've heard me and Nagito last night... and the previous morning..." I pursed my lips.

"We get it!" Kazuichi snapped.

"So, back to my question. Gundham, what were you doing out of your room?" I tilted my head as I put on wide, innocent eyes.

Gundham stayed quiet as Sonia was scrambling to find some sort of alibi for him.

"Gundham probably couldn't return to his room because of Fuyuhiko, right?" Nagito hummed.

"Me?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"After you saw Nekomaru heading to the tower, you stayed in the lounge for a while, am I correct? If you were in the lounge for that long, the killer who had left earlier obviously wouldn't be able to go back." Nagito explained.

Gundham then tried to explain that he had more ears thanks to his hamsters, which I called bullshit on, and then he tried to say he was outside of his room to go to the bathroom, which I also called bullshit on.

"Well, it's okay, you don't have to admit it. We're going to decide who the killer is with a majority vote, anyway. So, why don't we go ahead and start voting? It's obvious that Gundham is the killer." Nagito shrugged.

"Yeah, I've literally been saying that since the beginning." I rolled my eyes.

"Hold on a sec!" Hajime tried.

"You know, Hajime," Nagito grew serious again. "This class trial, this killing, it's merely the opening act, you know. Or perhaps I should say... it's just a farce? Just a boring farce... so boring, so stressful... I'm so painfully bored that I might develop stomach ulcers. Seriously, let's just hurry up and finish this before I collapse from poor health!"

"Nagito, something definitely happened to you, didn't it?" Hajime looked worried. "At some point during the investigation, your behavior became even weirder... yours and Enko's. What... what actually happened? Did you discover anything?"

"Story for another day! Shut up!" I snapped, and Hajime flinched back. "Now, we gonna finish this or what?"

Nagito went through a series of events, all fingers pointing towards Gundham, and we finally voted him guilty, and he was dragged away by Monokuma for punishment.

"Enko, are you coming? You need to eat." Nagito walked over to reach for my hand.

"Just a minute, Lover Boy. I need to talk to Beauty Queen over here." Monokuma hopped out of his chair and wobbled over to me.

"You do?" I blinked in surprise.

"You do?" Nagito asked, sounding doubtful.

"Yep. I assume she's told you about the little questions she's been asking me?" Monokuma asked, attracting the other's attention.

"She's told me she's been poking around, but not at what specifically." Nagito nodded.

"Ooh, keeping secrets, are we?" Monokuma nudged me. "I've decided to fess up some answers, so I'll be keeping her just a minute."

"Wait a second, why only her?" Fuyuhiko grew defensive.

"Well, mainly because she's the only one who's had enough sense to question certain things. And even if she isn't the only one with questions, she's the only one brave enough to ask me directly, and blackmail me into giving her answers!" Monokuma laughed.

"You're blackmailing him?" Hajime stared at me.

"I wouldn't call it blackmailing..." I pursed my lips. "More like, holding something over his head... besides, he blackmailed me with my secrets, remember?"

"And that's also why I'm only telling her. A sort of apology, if you will." Monokuma nodded. "So the rest of you, OUT!" He screamed, and they all left, casting glances back at me and the two animatronics.

"You know, before long, they're going to assume that we're working together." I sighed, looking down at Monokuma. "Now, what is it you wanted to tell me?"

"Well, I've done some thinking, and I have a surprise for you!" He grinned wickedly. I heard a little click from somewhere in the room, and a sinking feeling suddenly appeared in my lower abdomen, and my eyes widened.

"What?" I gasped as I clutched at the hem of my shirt. "What is this?"

"You were worried that you weren't getting your monthly cycle, right? Well, here you go! A monthly cycle!" Monokuma cackled. "We did a little medical check on you and found you were put on pain killers and birth control at thirteen for your cramps. Well, this is going to be worse than thirteen year old you ever dreamed!"

"Why?" My voice shook as I felt an oncoming cramp.

"Stop asking questions you don't want the answers to, missy." Monokuma's voice grew serious, and I turned and sprinted off and out of this place, passing the others and not stopping until I was back at the first island to grab some supplies and then back to my cottage where I was safe to suffer in peace.


	31. Chapter 31

I lied in bed the whole day and night, and the next morning, I didn't bother to get up for breakfast with everyone else. I kept my door locked and I only got out of bed to pee or change my pad. I also kept the curtains drawn and didn't even bother turning on the lights so I could stay in the dim light I preferred.

Nagito came knocking after breakfast to check on me, but I was much too tired and too in pain to get up and answer. I drifted in and out of consciousness, which really helped pass the time, but with Nagito banging on my door, waking me up, it really didn't last long.

"What are you doing?" I heard Fuyuhiko's voice outside.

"Enko isn't answering. I haven't seen her since yesterday. I'm worried something may have happened with her and Monokuma." I heard Nagito say. I just grumbled and turned over in my sheets, trying to get warm and comfortable again.

Nagito only stopped for a few minutes at a time, and it seems like the others just joined him. It literally seemed like they were taking turns pounding on my door, trying to get me to answer.

"Hey, Enko? Are you in there? We just want to know that you're okay, girl!" Akane yelled.

"What if she's not in there and we're just wasting our time?" Fuyuhiko sighed.

"I don't see why we care if she's okay," Kazuichi grumbled.

"Of course, we care. Don't be rude!" Sonia gasped. "Enko is our friend."

"Our suddenly turned bitch friend." Kazuichi huffed.

"Don't you dare talk about her like that." Nagito snapped. "Enko, sweetie? Can you please answer us? Please?"

I just put the pillow over my head and drifted off that way.

I don't really know what time it was when I woke up again, but the sun was starting to set, meaning I had slept nearly a whole day away.

It was quiet outside my cottage, so I took a chance and put on a hoodie and peeked outside.

There was no one on my porch and no one around, so I deemed it safe as I snuck out to the supermarket to just pick up some things.

Some things being as much soda, chocolate, chips, and candy that I could possibly carry.

No one saw me on the way to the supermarket nor on the way back to my cottage, so I considered that a success.

After some hours of pitiful snacking, I summoned Monokuma.

"How can I be of service, oh Bloody One?" He giggled.

"I've done some thinking, and I wanna do a deal." I hummed.

"I'm listening."

"I'll keep my questions to myself, and I'll not let slip to anyone as long as you stop this fucking mess and never, ever do this again. We don't speak of this, it never fucking happened. Deal?" I asked.

"Deal," He shrugged, and miraculously, the pain in my guts was gone, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Fucking finally," I breathed. "That feels so much better."

"Do I have to add this deal to the handbook for you to keep your word?" Monokuma asked.

"No, no. You can trust me. Tell me this, though, I'm curious."

"Hm?"

"Mine and Nagito's behaviors. What's up with that? I'm not fully in control of everything I'm saying and doing, so I'm guessing he's not either."

"Ah, simple. You've read the file. You know that all of you are called Ultimate Despairs, right? Or, rather, Remnants Of Despair?" Monokuma asked, and I nodded. "Well, this attitude of yours is more like how you acted in Hope's Peak, or as an Ultimate Despair, rather than how you've been acting as if you didn't know your classmates." He explained.

"So, I was a bitch in high school..." I hummed. "Makes sense, really."

"I've seen some memories, and my favorites are the ones of you bullying people to tears." Monokuma giggled.

"I bet," I slowly nodded in thought. "Am I allowed to see?"

"I may let slip just one," Monokuma said and pointed towards my monitor, which flicked to life. "This memory was taken from your passed friend, Mahiru Koizumi!"

I watched the screen as a scene formed, and it showed me with Nagito and Sonia behind me, and I was talking to Kazuichi. I had a drink in my hand, which looked like an iced coffee. My uniform was also slightly different than Sonia's. My skirt was shorter and I wore thigh-highs and garters that were clearly visible on my thighs. I looked like a fucking mean girl stereotype.

"What I'm trying to get at is that you need to leave Sonia alone. She's clearly not interested in guys that don't shower. Honestly, do you even know what deodorant is? Ever heard of that before?" I watched as my head tilted, and a wicked smile came to my lips.

"I know of something that might make you smell better!" High school me gasped, then threw her coffee over his head. If I knew me, and I did, that was probably flavored with tons of either vanilla or caramel syrup and was probably super sugary and sticky.

The scene was silent other than me laughing, and Sonia soon started saying that I didn't need to do that, I was going too far. Nagito just pulled me away by my hand, saying something about getting me another drink, and we left Kazuichi dripping, tears in his eyes.

"Look at all that despair! No wonder you became an Ultimate Despair, you probably were one from the start." Monokuma giggled.

I just sat in silence, processing what I just saw while trying not to get emotional.

"Wanna see more?" Monokuma grinned, and I shook my head. He soon left, and I was left to decide if I wanted to be alone, or if I wanted Nagito.

I ended up getting out of bed, not caring what I looked like, and I walked out to find Nagito. I checked his cottage first, and he wasn't there, so I wandered off and soon found him at the restaurant with everyone else, having dinner.

"I know we just saw you without makeup in the Funhouse, but I don't think I'll ever get used to it..." Kazuichi started, but I ignored him and went straight to Nagito and hugged him tightly, hiding my face in his chest as I teared up uncontrollably.

"Whoa, hey, what's up?" He hugged me back.

"Kazuichi, what the hell?!" Akane shouted at him.

"What? What did I say?" He panicked. "I'm sorry!"

"It's not him." I sniffed. "I just got away from Monokuma."

Nagito stiffened. "What did Monokuma do?"

"He swore me to secrecy, I can't tell you." I shook my head.

"Bullshit. Tell me." Nagito demanded, pulling back and making me look at him, and he gently wiped under my eyes.

"We're blackmailing each other, I can't." I sniffed, praying he would understand. "I'm not even supposed to be speaking about this, I don't know what he'll do, but I want you guys to know what's going on. It's selfish to keep this all to myself. So, I'll try to be vague." I nodded slowly, and they quieted to listen.

"During Mikan's trial... well, during the whole Despair Disease thing, really... I started noticing a bunch of things. Things that weren't adding up, huge things that were just sticking out and didn't make sense. I put it aside until Mikan's trial when I got a huge, and I mean _huge_ , hint. I stayed back to ask Monokuma and Monomi, and they basically answered my questions by refusing to answer my questions." I sniffed.

"Why not tell us?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"I didn't know what you guys might do with the information. I thought it would be better until I got some answers first, then I'd tell you. But now..." I trailed off, falling silent.

"What happened?" Nagito asked softly.

"Well, Monokuma held me back the last trial to answer some of my questions."

"We remember." Nagito nodded. "You stayed for like, twenty seconds, then sprinted out crying."

"Yeah, well, he didn't provide any answers at all. He just..." I took a breath. "He told me to stop poking around, and he... I'm sorry, I don't really know how to explain it other than 'mild torture.'" I said and saw their faces change.

"It wasn't awful. I mean, it was kinda bad, but nothing I couldn't deal with. Anyway, it was sort of why I wasn't answering yesterday when you all came around to my cottage. I was just... dealing with it. Anyway, I called him up to strike a deal, saying I wouldn't poke around anymore as long as he made it stop. And he agreed, then I asked one tiny question, and he showed me something..."

"Showed you something?" Hajime asked.

"Something from our time at Hope's Peak. A memory." I nodded.

"He can do that?" Kazuichi gasped.

"What memory?" Nagito asked, his grip tightening on my arms.

"A memory of me..." My eyes filled with tears again, and he pulled me back into a hug.

"Hey, it's okay. If it's really that painful, you don't have to talk about it anymore." He said and kissed my hair.

"I'm sorry," I cried, apologizing for many things at once.

"It's okay. You're better now, right?" He soothed me.

"You can't give us hints on what you found out, so maybe we might figure it out for ourselves?" Hajime asked once I was calm again.

"I don't know how vague I can get. I want to, really, really bad. But I just don't know." I shrugged limply.

"It might be better if we don't," Chiaki spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Fuyuhiko asked.

"Well, Enko is blackmailing Monokuma, and he's blackmailing her in return. None of us have anything over Monokuma. If she poked around and he tortured her, what would he do to us if we started poking around?" She explained.

"So, you think he went easy on her with the torture because she has something over him?" Kazuichi asked. "She still got tortured!"

"Well, I want a hint." Hajime crossed his arms.

"If she gives us even a hint, she may be tortured again!" Nagito snapped at him from beside me, making me flinch. "Sorry, sweetie." He rubbed my back gently.

"Monokuma! Allow us one hint!" Hajime called.

"Fine! One hint, and one hint only!" His voice came through the monitor.

"Enko, give us the biggest hint." Hajime pleaded, and I thought carefully.

"Well, the thing is, you don't know enough about me to understand the biggest hint. So, I'll give you the one that sort of cracked it open for me." I said, fiddling with my fingers.

"Okay, what is it?" He asked.

"The Monokuma morning announcement." I started.

"Yeah, what about it? It's the same one every day." Hajime nodded.

"Right, Monokuma never changes it. That's important. There's..." I chose my words carefully. "Something he says in the morning announcement that, given everything that's happened on the island, is... questionable," I explained.

"Something?" Fuyuhiko looked like he was thinking. "Like a phrase?"

"Yeah." I nodded.

"How many words?" Chiaki asked.

I thought back and counted on my fingers. 'Another perfect tropical day...'

"Four words." I nodded surely.

"Four words?!" Kazuichi exclaimed. "Four words in that whole ass paragraph that cracks this whole thing open?! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"What's your problem?" Hajime asked, everyone staring at him.

"I'm sorry, I really hate to be the one to say this, but I just don't believe that Enko here got tortured for a whole day over a few words and some questions." Kazuichi shook his head.

"Again, it was mild torture, it wasn't that bad..." I tried.

"Don't try to play it off. Torture is still torture, no matter how mild." Nagito said, making me tear up at how caring he was.

"Can we know what it was?" Chiaki asked, and I opened my mouth, then it clicked in my head.

"I can't. It's another hint, and I was only allowed one." I frowned.

"He made your torture a hint so that you couldn't talk about it?" Fuyuhiko's eyes widened. "That's fucked up."

"I think it's convenient." Kazuichi scoffed. "As far as we know, she and the bear are working together and this is all an act!"

This time, it was Nagito who stood up. "You wanna say that again?" He grew more serious than I'd ever seen him as he got in Kazuichi's face.

"Nagito..." I grabbed his hand and tried to pull him away.

"Enko is not the traitor. I'll prove it." Nagito seethed and walked away, pulling me after him.

"Nagito?" I asked, uncertain.

"I have an idea." He just smirked back at me.


	32. Chapter 32

I thought we agreed to include each other in our plans. I'm pretty sure that's what Nagito and I agreed on. If he was going to kill someone, he'd include me, just like I promised to include him.

So, what the fuck was Nagito fucking thinking right now, not telling me shit about his plan?

"I just need you to get some supplies for me, sweetie." He held my arms as we talked inside his cottage.

"Not until you tell me what you're planning." I frowned.

"I thought I made that clear. I'm going to make the traitor reveal themselves." He smiled.

"You haven't told me how, though." My brows furrowed.

"If I told you everything, you'd never let me go through with this plan. I just need you to trust me. Do you trust me?" He asked, and I slowly nodded.

"Then I need you to go to the supermarket and get me some rope, then to the castle to get a spear, and finally to the military base to get a knife. I'll take care of everything else." Nagito said and kissed my forehead before I went off.

I guess Nagito waited until I was on a different island to blow up the hotel lobby, as a warning, apparently.

I went to his cottage with the supplies he asked for, and immediately noticed the smell of smoke in the air.

"What did you do?" My eyes widened, and he got up and took the supplies from me.

"Gave them a motive," He chuckled and set the things aside before pulling me to sit on the bed with him. "They wanted to tie me up again, you know? They had an ambush set up and everything. I needed you off of the first island for a bit, sorry. But, I planted a bomb to make sure they didn't do anything too bad." He shrugged, talking way too calmly for my taste.

"Then, how are you going to weed out the traitor?" I asked.

"I've told them that I set up a bunch of bombs that will blow up the whole island if the traitor didn't out themselves by tomorrow at noon. I'm setting a sort of trap, you see." He hummed, tracing the skin on my hand with his fingertips.

"Nagito..." I gasped, and he moved in closer.

"Between you and me, they're fakes." He smiled. "My plan goes so much deeper than just bombing the place."

"Can you tell me?" I whispered.

"Sorry, sweetie. No can do. The less you know, the better. Now, tomorrow, we're going to sit in the restaurant until about eleven-thirty. I'll need to leave to prepare the trap, but I need you to stay there and out of sight. At about... twelve-thirty, come find me on the fifth island. Understand?" Nagito said, and I nodded, committing it to memory.

Nagito smiled, looking almost breathless. "You're so good to me, Enko. Thank you." He sighed and gave me a sweet kiss, and I found myself just wanting more.

I raised my hand and cupped his jaw, keeping his face close to mine as we kissed. Nagito didn't seem to mind, especially not when I lowered my hand down his chest to rub between his legs. No, his lips simply parted and he moaned into my mouth, seeming to grow desperate for me to kiss him harder.

"Do you want this?" I pulled back to ask.

"Yes," Nagito gripped my hips, tugging me closer to him. "I love you. Let me please you." He practically begged.

I slipped my shirt off and watched him take the sight in, and his hands released my hips to undress me and himself until we were stark naked and lying on the bed, me straddling his hips, his hardness under me.

Nagito looked at a loss, and the blush on his cheeks was the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life.

"This is... probably the farthest I've ever gone... It's not like anybody but you has ever been interested in me..." He panted, looking like he was trying to calm himself.

"Do you want to stop?" I asked, just to check.

"No," Nagito shook his head. "But, shouldn't we have... you know... a condom?" His worried eyes met mine.

I almost laughed but stopped myself for his sake. "Trust me, there's no way I'll get pregnant from this," I assured him. "You wanna prep me, or do you want to watch me prep myself?" I asked, changing the subject.

"I'll do it." He nodded, his hand moving between my legs. His fingers brushed gently over my skin, circling my clit before he trailed downward, his fingers meeting where the heat was the hottest, where I was the wettest.

"Slowly..." I breathed as I felt his fingertip slide in, and it took just a second for the rest of his finger to sink inside me.

"Good?" Nagito asked breathily.

"Yeah, it's fine." I nodded. I could hardly feel his finger, so I must be a bit looser than I thought I'd be. That's good.

Nagito began moving his hand, and after a while, he had three fingers pumping into me, and he seemed to be getting way too into it.

"I want you to come on my hand, Enko. I want to lick all of it off my fingers..." He panted, his thumb going to town on my clit, making me gasp and arch my back. "It's what I deserve, to pleasure you before receiving anything. So, please, come for me."

I didn't have it in me to refuse him when he sounded that sexy and touching me in such a way... I tensed around his fingers and felt it build and build until it all slowly crashed over me, releasing on his fingers, and he slowly worked them from me to start licking at his hand, moaning as he sucked the slick from his fingers.

"Nagito, I need you..." I huffed and reached behind me to find his length and start to touch him, raising myself up only to sink back down and feel him fill me up.

My jaw dropped and eyes closed at the feeling, and I took just a minute to steady my breathing and get used to how well he filled me up, how full I felt, and how my clit throbbed and ached for attention that I wouldn't allow just yet.

"You okay?" Nagito asked.

"Yeah, I just... I'm a bit tired after that orgasm. Can you...?" I bit my lip and moaned as he shifted while still inside me, and I felt the pressure as he flipped us to be on top of me, my legs still at his waist.

"I'd be honored to pleasure you however you want." Nagito practically moaned as he slowly slid out before pushing back in, and behind my eyelids, I saw pure color flashing.

Wow. That's all I could think. Just... wow.

Nagito kept going, becoming harder with his thrusts every few minutes or so, and after a while, his hand dropped down to rub my clit, and the colors just became more intense. There was a warm feeling spreading throughout my legs and my core, and a tightness in my chest that I definitely wanted to release. How long would this last? Part of me wanted to do this forever, and part of me longed for the final release that I know would just feel... spectacular.

"I love you..." I moaned, my hips rising to meet his thrusts, though he was already holding my hips up.

"I love you!" Nagito sounded delighted to hear it.

"Make me come, Nagito." It came out as a demand, which I knew would just turn him on more. To encourage him, I also let my hands leave his shoulders and grip his hair at the roots, which I had a strong feeling he really liked.

Nagito let out a broken moan and went even harder, if possible, and his fingers were putting the perfect amount of pressure on my clit, it made me burst in less than a minute. It left me panting and staring wide-eyed at the ceiling as he came inside me, then slowly pulled himself out and lied next to me.

"Enko?" Nagito asked after a minute when I hadn't moved or said anything.

"Kazuichi was right." I breathed, somehow getting the words out of my dry mouth.

"Huh?" Nagito looked confused.

"We do have amazing sex." I looked over at Nagito, whose face broke out into a smile after he realized what I said.

"Don't scare me like that." He huffed and placed his head next to mine, a soft smile on his lips.

A thought then came to my muddled mind, and I moved my lips to his ear and spoke as lowly as I possibly could.

"'Another perfect tropical day,'" I quoted. "That's the hint. You ever notice how the weather never changes? It's always another perfect tropical day. Also, it's been almost a full month here, and I haven't gotten my period. Well, other than that time that Monokuma forced me to have a period as a torture device to shut me up. And, speaking of periods, I haven't taken my birth control once on this island. I haven't taken any of my other pills, either. Besides, you don't need birth control if you don't have a period. You don't need antidepressants or antipsychotics if your mood is perfectly fine."

Nagito slowly looked at me, a strange look on his face.

"You follow?" I smiled, and he slowly nodded. "So, now you see why I couldn't say anything to you guys. Now you see what I was holding over Monokuma."

I leaned in even closer, my lips so close to his. "None of this is real, Nagito. I mean, you and I, we're real. I've seen proof of that. I'm pretty sure the others are real, too. At least Kazuichi, Sonia, and Mahiru are. But this island? The killings? Not real."

Nagito was quiet, very quiet. He seemed to be processing, so I shut up and let him process.

Curled up to his warmth, no idea what he was thinking, I fell asleep soundly, no fucking clue about what was coming tomorrow.


	33. Chapter 33

As promised, Nagito and I went to the restaurant early in the morning and met up with the others before they went on their bomb hunt. Nagito promised that we'd be here until noon if the traitor felt like a last-minute confession.

When they were all gone, Nagito slipped a thick file out of his jacket and handed it to me.

"I need you to read over this before I destroy the important things." He said and I nodded as I opened the file up.

"Which part?" I asked, and he flipped to it, the part that comes right after The Biggest, Most Awful Event In Human History.

I read over about how the original killing school life ended with the death of one student called the Ultimate Despair, but as it turns out, she was not alone. Just before the Tragedy of Hope's Peak came to light, she apparently recruited sixteen people to spread despair for her. They were also dubbed Ultimate Despairs but also went by the name Remnants of Despair.

"I... don't understand." I shook my head.

"We're the Remnants of Despair, Enko. Sixteen of us, minus the traitor." Nagito said, sounding upset. "I don't understand how Ultimates like us could fall into despair. Aren't we supposed to be shining with hope? Doesn't talent ignite hope?"

Nagito seemed hurt by this information, and after a moment of silence, he took the file from me, removed those specific pages, then took a lighter from his pocket and burned them right then and there.

"There. Now you and I are the only ones who know everything about this island." Nagito nodded and dropped the burning pages onto an empty plate, and we watched them slowly turn to ash and smolder before there was nothing left to burn.

"It's almost eleven-thirty," I noted.

Nagito stood up and turned to me. "Remember. Stay here and stay out of sight until at least twelve-thirty. I'll be on the fifth island, waiting for you." He smiled and leaned down to give me a kiss. A kiss that lasted a little longer than our usual casual kisses.

Why didn't I find it suspicious?

He left with the file, and for an hour, I resorted to snacking on whatever, getting lost in my thoughts. When twelve-twenty came, I got up and made my way to the fifth island, looking around until I came towards the factory and the warehouse with the door wide open.

I decided to peek in and saw everybody gathered near the back.

"Hey, guys. Has anyone seen Nagito? He told me..." I started to say as I walked over, and then I saw their faces.

Hajime was the first to move. He came over to me and blocked me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, confused.

"Trust me, Enko, you don't want to see this." He shook his head and tried to push me back towards the door.

"See what? Is it Nagito?" I asked, pushing back against him with all my might. "Let me see him, dammit, Hajime!"

"Hajime, it's inevitable. She has to." Fuyuhiko spoke up, and Hajime relaxed.

"I don't think this is a good idea..." He said and let me push past him, and then I saw him. I saw Nagito.

But not only did I see Nagito. I saw the knife sticking out of his hand, and I saw the rope tied around his wrists and ankles. I saw the goddamn spear sticking straight up out of his stomach. I saw his eyes wide and full of fear, but at the same time, completely lifeless.

Knife... rope... spear... his voice echoed inside my mind, telling me that he couldn't tell me what he was planning or I'd never let him go through with it.

"No," I tried to say, but I couldn't even hear my own voice. So I tried to say it again, and again. I kept repeating the simple word until maybe I could hear it, but there was a pounding in my ears that was drowning everything else out.

Soon the pounding had grown so strong, bit certain thoughts overlapped it. Thoughts such as, take the knife to your throat, take the knife to your wrists. Do it right here, right now. Who cares about the others? If you do this, you'll see Nagito again...

"Someone stop her!" A voice shouted, and soon arms were constricting me.

I was snapped back into reality. Someone, Akane I think, was holding down my arms to my sides so I wouldn't reach towards the knife anymore. She moved me back, and Chiaki moved in front of me, blocking my view of Nagito, and her lips were moving, but I couldn't hear her.

I think I was screaming. I think I was crying and screaming. I couldn't really hear it, and soon I couldn't even see through the hot tears clouding my vision. They burned as they fell down my cheeks, and my throat was burning and hoarse, so I quieted down, falling limp in Akane's arms.

"Can you hear me?" Chiaki asked, and I wearily nodded. New tears filled my eyes, and I didn't even know if I had the energy to cry anymore.

"It's not good to keep her in here with him... like this," Kazuichi said carefully.

"Let's get her outside. She needs air and space." Sonia said, and Akane walked me outside, all of them following.

All except one.

The fresh air did clear my head a bit, to the point where I could think. I remained silent though, not sure what I would do if I tried to speak at this point. I felt too fragile for words.

There was one thought in my mind. ' _See him again_.' It just kept repeating, over and over. It was stuck, and soon, I had a plan.

They were all talking about sticking someone on me, just to keep an eye on me, but I managed to slip away as they were all debating who to pin on me. Idiots.

Once I was far enough away, I broke out into a sprint and ran all the way to Monokuma Rock.

"Come on!" I screamed out into the open. "I wanna talk to you! Ultimate Despair!"

"Moi? You wanna talk to moi?" A new voice I'd never heard before say, and I turned to see a girl in pink pigtails standing behind me.

"You're... Ultimate Despair?" I asked, then decided it didn't matter. "Whatever. I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, I figured. What's up, sweet pea?" She twirled her hair.

"Let me out." I sniffed, trying to keep it together.

"Out?" Her head tilted.

"Of the simulation. Of this fake reality." I almost laughed. "I'm done playing. I know the truth, the whole truth. Let me out."

"Why would I do that?" She just kept twirling her hair.

"You want me to tell everyone about the reality of the situation they're in?" I blinked.

"Please, that's getting old." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "To be honest, I'm considering letting you go."

"You are?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can't decide which would bring more despair; to keep you here, powerless, or to release you into the real world where you can see what's become of your friends, and Nagito."

Just the words made me tear up again. It seemed to have settled it for her because a big smile stretched across her face.

"Just, do me one favor." I sniffed. "Let me remember what happened at Hope's Peak, and let me remember what happened here."

"Oh, sure thing! I was planning that for the survivors anyway." She shrugged. "Do me one favor in return, though."

"What is it?" I forced myself to look at her and her big, unnatural grin.

"Tell me what it feels like, what you're feeling right now."

My stomach sank. "It feels awful." I sniffed, tearing up again.

"Go on."

"It feels like there's a neverending... something inside of me. It's as deep and dark as the sea. It's... nothing. It feels like nothing is inside of me anymore. It feels weighted, but weightless at the same time. I can feel it crushing me, but it's also letting me float right out of my head. I want to cry, but crying won't do anything, and I know that. I want to scream, but it's like I can't even hear my own voice. I want to claw at my skin until I can feel something. I want to just... be done with it all."

"It all?" She asked, tilting her head innocently.

"I don't want to be here if he's not here," I said, straightening out my face as I voiced that truth for the first time.

"You want to die, just like him, right?" She smirked. "Well, so sad, too bad. You'll only witness despair alive, after all. You can't feel despair when you're dead. So, no dying for you. Not yet, at least."

She then reached forward and touched my cheek. "Aw, poor little Enko. You were one of my favorites, you know. You were like me, in a way. Eager to get whatever you wanted, ready to stomp on whoever it took to get your way. I think, at one point, I admired you. You're different than the rest of the Despairs." She said.

"I am?" My brows furrowed slightly.

"Yeah, totally. Tell you a secret." She smiled as her thumb stroked my cheek. "The others? I had to brainwash them to become Ultimate Despairs. Put together a little video and everything just for your class to watch. Everyone fell for it... but you."

"Me?" I blinked.

"You were hardly touched by my perfect little plan. It worked for everyone else, so why not you?" She said, then her hand slipped down to grip my neck.

"Then, of course, it hit me. You've experienced things the others haven't. Sure, some of them are dealing with chronic illnesses and abusive family members, but they've never gotten to the point of wanting to get in the shower and just bleed to death, have they? They've never starved like you, they've never experienced a hospital as you have. They haven't had true despair dormant inside them as you have."

I couldn't say anything. Not because she was gripping my throat, but because I couldn't even think of anything to say.

"There's a reason you switch between homicidal and suicidal so quickly. That's the despair in you!" She looked almost proud.

"I'm Ultimate Despair." I nodded, and she let go of my throat with a smile.

"Atta girl," She said, then gave a hum. "I suppose it's time to wake up now, Enko."

"Bye, Junko," I said, then wondered how I knew her name as the world burst into light all around me.


	34. Chapter 34

I woke up with a large gasp, trying to get as much air as possible into my lungs. My eyes shot open and immediately burned.

"She's awake!" A voice yelled.

"Impossible!" Another voice said, and they sounded very close.

I threw my hands over my eyes, closing them tight and trying to rub the burning away.

Hands grabbed my wrists and pulled them away from my face. "You don't want to do that," One voice said. "You could damage your eyes."

"Where am I?" I asked, my throat extremely dry.

"Future Foundation... kinda." A male voice said.

"Future Foundation?" I asked. "Ugh, can I get some water?"

"Help her sit up. I'll get some water." Another male voice said, and I heard footsteps retreating. I worked on opening my eyes, and soon they didn't burn so much as itch.

I saw there was a guy in a black hoodie with me, along with a number of green pods around me, just like the one I was in right now. It slowly came back to me in my head, and I understood.

"How did you get out?" The guy breathed in amazement. "We tried several times to shut it down, you shouldn't have been able to wake up."

"I... figured out it was a simulation. I did a deal. I'm kind of good at doing deals." I said hoarsely.

"We saw," The other male came back with a pitcher of water and a small plastic cup. "We'll be monitoring your intake. We don't want you getting sick."

I nodded and drank the water in the cup and handed it back to him for a refill. "You saw?" I asked.

"Yes. Everything Junko forced you to do inside the simulation, we were forced to watch. So, every little talk you had with Monokuma..." The guy in glasses said.

"Gotcha," I nodded and sipped on the second cup once he handed it back to me. "Junko's... dead, right?" I asked, just to confirm.

"Physically, yes. She still exists as an AI, though. We're working on that." The black hoodie guy told me.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember your names," I said, and they just smiled.

"I'm Makoto Naegi. That's Byakuya Togami." Black hoodie guy said.

"Oh, gotcha." I nodded and thought back. "From... the original killing school life, right?" I asked.

"The one and only," Togami sighed.

They set me up in a room to get back on my feet, and soon a girl with lilac hair showed up. She was updated on what happened with me waking up and all, and one of the three kept me company at most times, probably just to monitor me.

I regained my memories and found that Junko was telling the truth the whole time during the simulation. Monomi and Chiaki were with the Future Foundation, but that didn't make them our enemies. They really were trying to help us. Monokuma, or Junko, never lied to us either. Sure, they all hid things from us, but they never outright lied.

And I now see that what Junko was saying at the end was true. I remember Chiaki's death. I remember looking around the room at everyone's faces, how they couldn't tear their eyes from the screens. How I was confused because I seemed to be the only one unaffected.

But, Junko was right. Sure, we've all gone through something in our lives. We've all coped in some way or another, found a way to just deal with our traumas. Nekomaru decided he would be the best he could be with his condition and push others to be their best, too. Hiyoko needed to get her pent up feelings out somehow, so she picked on others. Sure, it wasn't nice, but it worked, and we all understood why she did it.

But it seems that no one else in our group had despair just... waiting inside them like me.

It took a bit of thought, but I soon figured out that my despair came in waves, as Junko said. I switched between homicidal and suicidal in the blink of an eye. I either wanted to kill others or kill myself to deal with my pain, and there was no in-between. It was always the extremes for me, and nothing less.

Well, I am the Ultimate Beauty Queen, after all. A flair for the dramatic is just a given at this point.

Makoto, Togami, and Kyoko went into the simulation when the time came, as everyone was facing off against the Junko AI in the system, and when they came back to, they updated me on what had happened. They won.

It took another day or so for Hajime, Kazuichi, Fuyuhiko, Sonia, and Akane to wake up, and man, they were stunned to see me.

"We thought you died!" Kazuichi exclaimed as Sonia threw her arms around me in a hug, struggling to stand.

"No, sorry, guys. I figured out the world was a sim earlier." I explained.

"Your hint totally makes sense now, by the way." Fuyuhiko smiled.

"You seem happier," Sonia smiled at me.

"I've had a few days to catch up on my meds." I nodded.

"That's good. Definitely do that." She nodded with a breathless, beautiful laugh.

"Yeah, sorry. Just... after seeing Nagito, I just couldn't stand to be there anymore." I frowned for a second before forcing my face back into a smile.

"Hey, we understand." Hajime smiled and touched my arm gently.

"Did you know? That he was planning... to do that?" Fuyuhiko then asked.

"No," I shook my head. "He had me get the rope, the knife, and the spear for him, I guess while he set up the bombs... well, not bombs. But he kept telling me that the less I knew about his plan, the better. That I'd never let him go through with it if I knew what he was going to do."

My eyes filled with tears, but I continued to smile. "He was right. He always talked about sacrificing himself... I always thought it was like a coping mechanism or something, I didn't know he actually meant to do it."

They were silent as I struggled to keep myself together. I didn't turn away from them to wipe my cheeks or take deep breaths. I let them see it all, and Sonia rubbed my back through me calming myself down.

"But, I believe he'll wake up. I believe they all will. He's lucky, right?" I sniffed.

"Yeah, he's really damn lucky." Fuyuhiko nodded, and each of them chuckled.

So we stayed in the facility for a few days while Makoto and them arranged everything, and slowly, the rest of them began to wake up.

Ibuki was the first. She shot up, coughing and clawing at her neck, and it honestly didn't take long for us to calm her down and assure her that she was safe.

The imposter, who had no disguise on, was next, and he seemed rather calm despite everything. Then it was Mikan, Hiyoko, Teruteru, Gundham, Mahiru, Peko, and then Nekomaru.

Nagito was still asleep after a week of this.

"I don't... understand." I shook my head slowly as I knelt by his pod.

"Well, you know how his luck works. It's always in extremes." Hajime said softly. "He was either going to be the first or the last."

"I just... miss him..." I sighed, almost inaudible, trailing my fingers along the green material of the pod, wishing I could touch him.

"Yeah, I miss him, too." Hajime smiled and touched my shoulder, a comforting gesture, just to let me know I wasn't alone.

Hajime left me so I could be alone with Nagito, and I smiled a little bit, having a thought.

"Hey," I smiled. "Can you hear me?"

No answer, but what else was I expecting?

"Nagito, you need to wake up, you hear? I miss you. I'm lonely. I know it's a bit selfish, but I need you here with me." I said softly, leaning even closer to the pod.

Another idea came into my head, and I shook my head at myself.

"God, I'm so stupid." I sighed and gave the pod a smile.

"Remember us, in the kitchen on the island? Right before the fourth island opened as we all went to the Funhouse? How you found me singing and dancing in the kitchen, and you joined me? How I made you that shitty omelet that you apparently liked? How everyone thought we were being dirty and fucking in there, but we were really just being stupid?" I laughed a little, then settled.

"I sing a lot, you know, actually. I'm not very good at it, I guess I'm okay, but I like it." I shrugged before taking a breath and getting the words out.

" _Please believe me, don't you see_  
 _The things you mean to me?_  
 _Oh I love you, I love you_  
 _I love, I love, I love... Komaeda_

 _I live for you, I long for you, Komaeda_  
 _I've been idolizing the light in your eyes, Komaeda_  
 _I live for you, I long for you, Komaeda_  
 _Don't let me go_  
 _Don't let me go..._ "

I finished the two verses with a little smile, embarrassed at myself.

"Wow, I'm dumb." I laughed. "But hey, just make sure you wake up soon, okay? I love you." I touched the pod once more before I stood up and walked out of the room, my heart thumping in my chest.

When I got up for breakfast two days later, nobody was in the kitchen. I got myself some coffee and went on a hunt to find everyone, and found a group in the server room.

"Something happen?" I asked, still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, and they looked back at me, parting the way to a certain pod.

It took my sleep-addled brain a minute to figure out what I was looking at, to see who was staring right back at me, his green eyes wide and mouth open in awe.

"Enko..." Nagito breathed, and I blinked, not believing what I was seeing.

"Let me just... take that before you drop it." Hiyoko took my mug of coffee away from my hands, as it was dangerously slipping from my grasp, and once it was taken from me, I walked forward, my eyes only on Nagito, and I stopped just before him.

I reached out and traced a lock of hair by his cheek, and it felt familiar... but so different. It was still soft, still so fluffy as I remember, but totally not the same as when we would lie together and I would comb through his hair gently with my fingers, feeling the weight of his head on my chest.

Nagito broke my thoughts by reaching up with his right hand and brushing the tears away on my cheeks.

"Fuck," I swore, and his face broke out into a smile.

"Of course, you'd swear at a time like this." He said, and his voice was just so beautiful, and I missed it so, so much... it just made me cry even more.

"Fuck, okay. How do you feel? Are you feeling okay? Does everything look okay? You need water?" I felt the words rush out of me in a panic, but Nagito just laughed and took my hand in his own.

"I'm fine, sweetie. Never better. Well, I can't move my left hand, but that's to be expected." He raised his arm, the hand with red nails hanging limply as bandages poked from under his sleeve.

"We need to do something about that." I nodded slowly, trying to think, and all my thoughts ceased when Nagito lifted my hand in his and pressed a kiss to it, and my skin burned where his lips touched down.

"Don't worry about it now. I'll manage." He looked back up at me, eyes shining and lips curled into a smile, and I nearly crumpled to the floor right then and there.

"I almost thought you wouldn't wake up," My voice cracked as I teared up for what seemed like the hundredth time this week. "I thought your luck was fucking acting up again, and that this would be the last straw. That your whole plan would go perfectly, but you'd never wake up."

"And leave you behind? No fucking way." Nagito smiled, forcing me to smile, and I quickly brushed my tears away.

"There's the happy couple we all know and love," Hiyoko rolled her eyes, still holding my coffee.

"Fuck right the fuck off, Hiyoko." I smiled over at her so she knew I wasn't being serious.

"Yeah, Nagito just woke up. We can give them a day or two to be as mushy as they want." Akane shrugged with a smirk. "Just be careful, okay? This isn't a simulation, you can actually get pregnant here."

"Fuck!" I swore, making them all laugh, and everything felt at ease again.

Everything (well, almost everything) was right in the world again, now that we were all together once more.


	35. Chapter 35

It's been nearly two months on Jabberwock Island now, and we've been repairing it rather nicely. We started with the cottages and the hotel so we would have somewhere to eat and sleep and wash up, and with time we moved onto places like the library and the diner and the hospital and every place we could reasonably rebuild.

Soon, it was starting to look like home.

I roomed with Nagito. I preferred his cabin to mine anyway, so I just moved my shit there. No one had any complaints anyway.

We didn't have many things. Just clothes and some necessities. I didn't have a speck of makeup with me. Lots of them seemed confused at that when they mentioned my bare face, and I just shrugged and said I didn't need makeup here. Who was here that I had to look pretty for? Everyone's already seen me without makeup, I didn't need the mask anymore. I could be myself and not some made-up personality around these guys.

They didn't seem to understand, but Nagito seemed especially proud of me. I was pretty proud of him, too.

He's recently been catching himself when he starts to put himself down. He told me he sees the way I look at him when he calls himself trash, and he doesn't like the look. He knows it displeases me, so he's going to try to stop it. He slips up occasionally, usually around Hajime, but he's really trying, and I tell him every single time that I appreciate his effort very, very much.

See, I know some of the others think our relationship is a bit... odd, especially when Nagito talks about wanting to please me and praise me and how he'll do anything for me and I just... let him. I think they think it's controlling.

But the thing is, I want him to better himself. I want him to see himself the way I see him. And one step towards that goal is by having him realize that him putting himself down displeases me, and he doesn't want to displease me, so he has to stop it. I tried explaining it once to Sonia, and she understands but said it was sort of an odd way of reaching this goal.

"So, if you're focused on bettering Nagito, how are you bettering yourself?" She once asked, and I blinked in confusion.

"A relationship is about bettering the other person and yourself together, as a unit. I don't think your relationship is bad at all, I think it's actually a very healthy one. But, you're so focused on Nagito, how are you bettering yourself? How is he helping you?"

"He already has," I found myself answering. "I don't wear makeup anymore. I... makeup is used as a form of self-expression for many people, but I used it wrong. I used it as a mask, I used it to become a different person, to become a person I thought people would like more than me. I put on a mask and a voice and I smiled and told people what they wanted to hear. Nagito's helped me realize that I don't need to do that anymore." I smiled, happy that Sonia understood that we were good for each other.

So, now that I could freely be myself, the whole group had to deal with the true me. The me that talks way too loud and too fast when she gets excited, the one who isn't afraid to tell people the crazy shit that went down in the hospital, the one who will get caught singing while cooking in the kitchen, and not stop singing or dancing once caught. The me that will openly talk about the eating disorder without shame because I'm trying to work past it, and I have all these supportive people around me who understand if I stop eating in the middle of a meal just because I can't force myself to.

"You know, I really owe it to Junko." I hummed one night as Nagito and I sat on the beach under a thick blanket.

"Huh?" He looked at me like I was crazy.

"If none of this crazy shit happened, we wouldn't be here, and I wouldn't be happy." I smiled out at the waves.

"Is this your weird way of saying that you're happy?" Nagito asked.

"Yeah," I nodded and let my head fall onto his shoulder. "I don't really remember what happiness felt like, not for a really long time. Thinking back, I'm not even sure if I was truly happy, ever. But this? Here? Now? This is happiness, being with you, all of you, and knowing that you're all here for me as I am for you."

Nagito's arms wrapped around my waist, his left hand making a mechanical sound as it shifted. I closed my eyes and just breathed in his scent and the smell of the sea and the salt.

"Man, I love you." I sighed, then giggled, feeling so elated to just know that fact without a doubt.

"I love you, too, Enko. You beautiful, beautiful being." Nagito chuckled and kissed my hair.

"Hey, you wanna have celebration sex?" I asked.

"What are we celebrating?" Nagito asked.

"Fucking anything. Being alive." I shrugged. Nagito laughed softly and turned to kiss me, but we were interrupted.

"Hey, guys!" A voice called, and Ibuki skidded to a stop next to us on the sand. "We're all gathering on the second island's beach with drinks. Wanna join us?"

"Um..." I tried thinking it over in my head.

"Too bad! You have to! No choice in the matter!" She exclaimed. "You have to be there in ten minutes or Akane's going to beat your ass and drag you!" She yelled as she skipped away.

I pouted and leaned against Nagito, who was shaking softly with laughter.

"I don't wanna go...!" I whined into his neck.

"Why don't we go just for a few drinks, then we can leave?" He offered.

"But I want you now!" I pouted and began pressing kisses to his neck, pleased as I heard his soft gasps and strangled moans.

Nagito raised my face and gave me a deep kiss, one that almost made me crawl into his lap and just take him right there on the sand, but he pulled back and promised me more later if I agreed and went to the beach with him and the others for just a few drinks.

"Only a few. You promise?" I frowned.

"Just a few." He nodded and pulled me up, drawing me close to his side to walk with me.

We got the blanket back to our cottage and walked to the second island's beach behind the diner and beach house, and Nekomaru was passing out drinks to everyone. I took one and silently drank it.

"You look grumpy," Sonia gave me a kind smile.

"I was hoping to get laid, then Ibuki came around and said that if I didn't come to this, Akane would beat me up." I rolled my eyes as I told her this.

"Ah, you've been here long enough. Go on." Sonia nodded, and I had enough alcohol in me to decide that it was okay, and so I took Nagito's hand in mine and started to pull him away.

"What? Now?" He asked, looking confused.

"Yes. Now." I said, using a slightly more demanding tone, and he immediately fell into place behind me as we walked away from the party.

"You are insatiable, aren't you?" Nagito held my hips in his hands as we walked back to the first island and to our cottage.

"I can't help it when I want you." I turned to smirk at him from over my shoulder. "I need you, Nagito. So bad."

My thoughts hadn't calmed down from when I first suggested that we fuck tonight, and it got to the point where I was so turned on that I was clenching around nothing down between my legs. I'm pretty sure he could see the lust on my face, and I could tell from the blush on his cheeks that he was thinking something along the same lines, too.

We were a mess of hands and lips and clothes once the door was closed, kicking off our shoes and stumbling towards the bed only to fall upon it and make the kisses deeper.

Nagito's blunt nails scratched at the skin on my waist, a sign that he was becoming desperate for me. He began to kiss down my body, praising every inch of skin that he could until he got between my legs and hoisted my thighs over his shoulders as he dove in, his lips and tongue obviously hungry for a taste.

I let my back arch and my hips roll in time with his licks, and my eyes slid shut in pleasure, and I was just so happy like this. Nagito and I could literally do this for hours and hours and we'd never tire of it. Well, physically we might get tired, but emotionally? Never.

"Ah, I don't know how much longer I could go with you like this," Nagito admitted, pulling back to meet my eyes.

"It's okay. I want you in me." I nodded quickly.

"But you haven't come yet..." Nagito frowned. He always liked to make me come first before he pushed himself in like he thought my pleasure was more important than his or something.

"Nagito, I literally don't care." I groaned and pulled him up for a kiss, my hand leading his length between my legs, and he started to slowly sink in.

Nagito let out a shuddering breath against my lips, and it made me smile with giddiness.

"You just feel so good, every time..." Nagito practically purred, going to kiss my neck and shoulders as he slowly rolled his hips to slide in and out of me.

"You can go harder if you want." I moaned at a well-placed nip to my throat.

"Mmh, I wanna make this last with you." Nagito sighed, his eyes closing.

I let him set the pace, knowing I would be happy with whatever he chose, and soon I began gasping for air as I drew closer and closer to my finish, my legs and hips trembling with every push he gave.

Nagito's hand fell between us to play at my clit, and he began mumbling things like how he was going to take care of me, how beautiful I was, how he needed to see me come...

I tensed as I came and slowly, very slowly, relaxed with the release, just feeling Nagito's lips on my chest as I breathed and basked in the high.

"I love you," I sighed and forced my fingers to run through his hair, which I knew he loved.

"I love you." Nagito looked up at me, his lips brushing over the tattoo on my heart.

I smiled, so happy to hear it, and pulled him up by his hair for a kiss. Nagito complied, always happy to do whatever I wanted, and he was always happy to give me kisses when I wanted them.

When I finally released his lips, he rolled onto his back beside me, keeping his arms around me, and I turned onto my side just to watch him. He was so beautiful and he didn't think anything about his appearance.

New goal: get Nagito to realize he is absolutely gorgeous.

"What are you looking at?" He smiled.

"You're beautiful, you know?" I smiled softly, my fingers tracing down his chest.

"This sickly body?" Nagito laughed, then saw my frown, so he cut it out. "You mean that?"

"Nagito, you're absolutely ethereal. I've never seen someone as handsome as you, and I've worked with models. Professional beautiful people." I smiled and gave him a soft kiss so that maybe he would believe me. "You have no idea what the mere sight of you does to me."

"Shut up, you're lying." Nagito blushed and looked away.

"You wanna look me in the eyes to see if I'm lying?" I smiled, practically teasing him at this point.

Nagito turned his face back to me, his stare boring into my eyes.

" _I love you, I love you, I love, I love, I love Komaeda_." I smiled as I sang the line, making him blush further.

"You really must love to tease me." Nagito huffed.

"You're just so goddamn cute when you blush. How am I supposed to ignore that?" I rolled my eyes.

"See, I'll accept that I'm cute sometimes, but not beautiful." He held up a finger, and I couldn't think of anything else to do but bite it lightly. It seemed to shut him up for a second, but then he gave me a slightly annoyed look.

"Will you use your mouth on anything I put in front of your face?" He asked, making me laugh.

"Yes, probably. You know I love blowing you. You're especially cute when your dick is getting sucked." I nodded.

"The things you say sometimes..." Nagito shuddered.

"You've had actual years to get used to my language." I chuckled and wrapped my arms around his shoulders to get even closer as I started to grow tired.

"You remember the first time you blew me?" Nagito smiled. "Right after gym class, we skipped the next period to hide behind the shed behind the parking lot. You said you were so nervous because you had a strong gag reflex and you didn't want to throw up on me." He chuckled.

"Literally the worst thing that happened that day was that I lost my voice for a few minutes after you came in my mouth." I rolled my eyes at teenage me's absurdity.

"That might've been one of the best days of my life, actually." Nagito smiled dreamily.

"Yeah?" I grinned, nuzzling into his neck.

"Yeah. I used to think that maybe you were pretending to like me like it was a dare or something. But then you do something like that when it's just us, and no one else can see, and it sort of proved it to me that you weren't faking. You actually cared about me." He looked so happy, it melted my heart.

"Aw, Nagito!" I smiled widely and peppered his cheek in kisses. "I've always been in love with you."

"Lies," Nagito hummed.

"No, really! I sat behind you in class, and I had this serious urge to play with your hair all the fucking time. Like, I knew you wouldn't mind probably, but I couldn't just do that in the middle of class. It took me a little while to figure out I wanted more than just to play with your hair." I chuckled, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"You really do like my hair?" Nagito turned to look at me.

"Yeah," I nodded. "And your eyes, and your lips, and literally everything about you."

"It's okay. You can say my dick, I won't be mad." He joked, making me laugh.

"I'm just... in love with all of you." I smiled and let myself trace his cheek. "So, back to my previous statement, I really owe it to Junko for fucking up my life, all of our lives, or we would never be this happy."

Nagito slowly nodded before he kissed me gently, letting our lips mold together and our tongues simply meet before he pulled back and rested his forehead against mine, the soft movement making me fall in love with him all over again.

And there would just be repeats of this every single night until the end of time, and I didn't have one single problem with that.


End file.
